The event organizers WePlay! have been on a roll. Their next tournament, the WePlay! Dota 2 Pushka League will start on April 23, right after ESL One Los Angeles Online.
The last event by WePlay! was the WeSave! Charity Play which aimed to help fight the coronavirus pandemic. Each of the competitive regions got their own league with milestones adding an extra 3vs3 NA All-star match and an EU/CIS grand final. The total prize pool reached almost $190,000 and all of the money were donated to various organizations to help fight the virus in each region. So what’s next?
The Dota 2 Pushka League
The Pushka League was announced right after the conclusion of WeSave! Charity Play.
!! Official Dota2 league!!WePlay! Pushka League will start on April, 23rd! Online format, two regional groups, fourteen teams, $250,000 at stakeRead more: https://t.co/Ippou3qTB1@dota2 #dota2 #WePlayDota2 #Dota2Pushka pic.twitter.com/nIRUcgkkmb
— WePlay Esports (@WePlay_Esports) March 26, 2020
Pushka is Russian for gun/cannon, so it’s an interesting choice for the League’s name. The event will feature teams from two regions – EU and the CIS. We can see the participants in the tweet above:
EU
- Team Liquid
- Ninjas in Pyjamas
- Nigma
- OG
- Alliance
- Team Secret
CIS
- Virtus.pro
- Natus Vincere
- Gambit Esports
- HellRaisers
- Team Spirit
- B8
While there are only twelve teams here, the WePlay! Dota 2 Pushka League will feature a total of 14, with 7 in each region. The final two will be decided by regional EU and CIS open qualifiers. The date of those is still unclear, but they’ll probably take place a week before the start of the actual event. WePlay!’s Pushka League is set to kick off on April 23 and it will really feel like a long regional league. The tournament will last for over a month, coming to an end on May 25 and the total prize pool stands at $250,000.
Format
The 14 teams will be divided into two groups of 7. Each of the groups will be basically all the teams from the region playing in a round-robin format. All matches will be played in a Bo3. The bottom three squads will get eliminated while the remaining four will advance to the playoffs. There the eight remaining teams will decide the winner in double elimination brackets. All matches are once again Bo3, with the exception of the grand final which is a Bo5.
WePlay! also kept the audience vote for the MVPs of the event. The MVP Core and the MVP Support will receive an extra $5,000 each. In most cases we’ve seen so far, both are usually members of the winning team in the finals, but hey maybe there’ll be an exception to the rule.
Pushka League will keep Dota 2 fans occupied for a full month and even more if we count the open qualifiers. The event is scheduled perfectly as it arrives right after ESL One Los Angeles Online. It only slightly intertwines with the BTS Pro Series which will run from April 10 and April 26. The latter is focusing on entirely different regions as it is limited to teams from North America, South America, and Southeast Asia.
Stay tuned for more Dota 2 updates.
