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Dreamleague Stiffed by Popular Dota 2 Teams (Again!)

Nov 15, 2016
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Dreamleague has lost two of its headliners.

Team NP announced their departure from Dreamleague about two weeks ago. Virtus Pro followed suit last week. Both teams had played a number of matches for the tournament already, and their departure has left Dreamleague admins scrambling to figure out how to correct the brackets.

Fans aren’t exactly thrilled:

This community needs to standup for Dreamleague and be counted. from DotA2

EternalEnvy gave an explanation about why NP chose to leave Dreamleague part of the way through the tournament. Basically, NP is a new team. They’re not guaranteed any invites. They have to try to get in to as many tournaments as possible to ‘prove’ themselves and hopefully have a shot an an invite for a Valve Major. NP has been playing well enough to qualify for other tournaments including DotaPit, Northern Arena, and Elimination Mode 2.0, which all conflicted with the schedule of Dreamleague’s league play.

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Additionally, both NP and VP will be attending the Boston Major and traveling a lot in the coming weeks. In the past, Valve has accidentally screwed up third-party tournaments by announcing their Major dates fairly close to the actual event. Teams have to choose between upholding their commitment to a smaller tournament (and a smaller prizepool) and participating in a Valve Major, arguably the Triple Crown of Dota.

Is it fair to Dreamleague, and if not, does it matter?

What do you think?

I could probably make a compelling argument with some Ayn Rand-ian Objectivism as to why teams should just do whatever they think will bring them the most money and most prestige. In the case of NP though, their departure mid-league screwed up the bracket. I should also add that NP themselves were a replacement team – EG, OG, and Secret* pulled out in October due to scheduling conflicts with the Boston Major. Do NP owe it to Dreamleague to honor their commitment, especially considering that Dreamleague made a special concession for them initially? Virtus Pro’s situation was a little less controversial, as league play was completed when they decided to stop participating. Alliance, the 5th place finisher, was bumped up into VP’s space.

*That did not work out well for Secret. 

NP leaving early may not be the worst thing ever. EternalEnvy has gotten into mischief at Dreamleague in the past:

On the other hand, Valve’s Major system is already hurting third party tournaments. Now this isn’t the fault of teams at all, but one could argue that if teams want to see the scene continue to thrive, they need to support third party tournaments. There’s also something to be said for upholding values and honoring your commitments.

Ron Swanson's Pyramid of Greatness
(Image via Parks and Rec wikia.)

We should all aspire to be the person that Ron Swanson would want us to be.

If we lose our third party tournaments, we’ll end up with a monopoly like what Riot does, and most Dota fans don’t want that AFAIK. Dreamleague’s also an awesome tournament with good production value, so I hope that their viewer numbers don’t take a hit from losing two popular teams.

Let us know what you think on Twitter!

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Kara has been following professional DotA2 since the TI4 qualifiers. When not watching matches on Twitch, she can be found working (or attempting to find work) as a geologist and enjoying nature.
What do you think?
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ayy lmao

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Nice.

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Meh.

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No.

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Whoa!

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