The International is arguably the largest esports event of the year, with massive prize pools that keep setting the record for esports events every year and this year it is held in Shanghai, China in the Mercedes-Benz Arena.
Months prior to the main event there will be open qualifiers that seed into closed qualifiers that in turn seed teams into the main event group stage. Professional teams have accumulated Dota Pro Circuit points throughout the 2018/2019 season by attending and performing at Minors and Majors that have been sanctioned by Valve.
The International will be hosting 18 teams, 12 of which will be invited based on Circuit Points and 6 teams that have made it through the Closed qualifiers. Teams that have accumulated some circuit points, but not enough to be directly invited to the main event will be invited directly to the closed qualifiers of their region where they will square off with the teams from the open qualifiers.
The 6 different regions that will qualify a team are Europe, North America, South America, Southeast Asia, China, and CIS.
Format
Group Stage:
Two round-robin groups, nine in each, best-of-two (eight teams are advancing from both).
Playoffs:
Double elimination bracket, first lower bracket round is best-of-one, rest best-of-three (grand finals best-of-five):
