The wait is finally over for the avid Dota 2 esports fans.
Organizers PGL and ONE Esports unveiled on Friday, February 5, the first Major tournament of the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) 2021 season.
Officially named as the ONE Esports Singapore Major presented by PGL, it will also be the first Major tourney since the DreamLeague Season 13: The Leipzig Major held in January last year.
The 18 best teams across the world will battle it out for the lion's share of the $500,000 (over P24 million) prize pool and 2,700 DPC points at stake in this massive tournament that will be held from March 27 to April 4.
The top finishers in the upper division of the six DPC Regional Leagues will qualify for this Major.
Three slots are allocated for the Southeast Asia region; four for both Europe and China; three for CIS; and two for both North and South America.
Based on current standings, Filipino team Neon Esports leads the DPC-SEA upper division with a perfect 3-0 record followed by Fnatic (2-1) and T1 (2-1), both of which have two Filipino players.
As a remarkable Dota 2 event amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the tournament will be the first-ever Major to be broadcasted in the splendid 4K resolution at 60 fps (frames per second).
The Singapore Major was supposed to be held in June last year as part of the 2019-2020 DPC season but the pandemic forced the organizers to cancel the competition.
Two other Major tournaments, namely the ESL One Los Angeles 2020 and the EPICENTER Major, were terminated due to the same reason.
With the absence of LAN events, teams were obliged to compete in online regional tournaments.