Frankfurt Major schedule and group stage format revealed

In less than a month, sixteen teams – eight directly invited and eight qualified ones – will travel to Frankfurt to compete for a $3 million prize-pool in this fall’s Dota Major. ESL has released the Frankfurt Major schedule and group stage format.

The Frankfurt Major will have a format similar to The International 5 one. In fact, the only TI5 segment that will not apply to the Frankfurt Major is the Wild Card stage.

Although the Frankfurt Major main event is set to be held between November 16-21, the 16 teams – which have already been established through direct invites, open and regional qualifiers – will make the trip to Germany’s “Main-hattan” a couple of days before the main event, for the group stage play.

According to ESL’s announcement, the group stages will take place between November 13-14, from 11:00 CET to 00:00 CET on both days.

Played in a classic GSL format, the group stage will determine the Upper and Lower Bracket seeding of the teams for the double-elimination main event. Just like in TI5’s case, no public access will be permitted during the Frankfurt Major group stage.

Frankfurt Major schedule: Group stage

• The Frankfurt Major group stage will take place from November the 13th to the 14th, from 11:00 CET to 00:00 CET on both days.

Frankfurt Major schedule: Main event

• The Frankfurt Major main event will take place from November 16th through the 21st, at the Festhalle Messe, in Frankfurt, Germany, from 10:00 CET to 23:00 CET. Further details about the Frankfurt Major schedule have not been disclosed yet. The information available on the tickets suggests that the event will unfold in the 10-23 CET span, in each day of the main event. If The International 5 main event is any indication, viewers and visitors are in for dawn to dusk action.

• The Frankfurt Major finals will take place on Saturday, November 21st.

Festhalle Messe, Frankfurt

Frankfurt Major format: Group stage

• The Frankfurt Major group stage will be played in a classic GSL format.
• The 16 participating teams will be split up into four groups of four.

  In each group, the teams will play a total of five best-of-three matches, as shown below:

  Match #1: Team A vs. Team B
  Match #2: Team C vs. Team D
  Winners’ match (WM): Winner of Match #1 vs. winner of Match #2 – winner advances to the Upper Bracket
  Losers’ match (EM): Loser of Match #1 vs. loser of Match #2 – loser drops to the Lower Bracket
  Decider match: Loser of WM vs. winner of EM – winner advances to the Upper Bracket and loser drops to Lower Bracket

• The group stage will determine the seeding for the Frankfurt Major main event.
• Eight teams will be seeded into the main event Upper Brackets, while the remaining eight will start the main event in the Lower Brackets.
• No teams will be eliminated in the group stage.

Frankfurt Major format: Main event

• Sixteen teams will play a double-elimination bracket.
• Eight teams (top two teams of each of the four groups) will start the main event in the Upper Bracket.
• Eight teams (bottom two teams of each of the four groups) will start the main event in the Lower Bracket.
• All the Upper Bracket match-ups will be best-of-three series.
• The first round of the Lower Bracket matches will be best-of-one elimination series. The following rounds will be best-of-three elimination series.
• The Frankfurt Major Grand Finals will be best-of-five series, with no winners’ advantage.

Frankfurt Major participating teams

Frankfurt Major tickets

• Attendance to the Frankfurt Major will be open to the public and will not require a ticket for any day except for the day of the finals.
• The finals will take place on Saturday, November 21st.
• Tickets can be purchased from Eventbrite, for €50 each.

The Frankfurt Major will feature $3 million in prize money

The first Dota Major will be held in Frankfurt, Germany, at the Festhalle Messe – a multi-purpose hall with an area of 6,000 square meters, which can accommodate up to 13,500 visitors. Sixteen teams will be competing total prize-pool of $3,000,000 and ESL Gaming will be in charge of production.

Unlike The International prize-pool, the Frankfurt Major prize fund is fixed at $3,000,000. Valve has released the Fall Season 2015 Compendium, however, purchases will not contribute to the Frankfurt Major prize purse.

Over the last five years, The International has become the pinnacle moment for the world of professional Dota. Now, the excitement of the biggest event in esports is coming to the Majors, a series of seasonal marquee tournaments, which will take place throughout the year and around the globe. Dota’s newest tradition begins this fall with the Frankfurt Major.

Valve originally announced the implementation of the Majors system at the end of April 2015. The concept is believed to be a proper solution to some significant problems in tournament quality and control that had been voiced in recent times.