Dota 2 News Digest: March

Table of Contents

Despite PUBG and PUBG Mobile becoming a global gaming hit, Dota doesn’t seem to be abandoning their positions. Let’s have a look at the updates and events that happened in the Dota 2 world in the first month of spring.

Game Updates

Following the official statement from IceFrog, game updates are now issued regularly in small portions. In March, we have seen three relatively significant updates—7.10, 7.11 and 7.12—and a streak of smaller ones, which you can check on the official Dota 2 blog if you need to.

Patch 7.10

The first patch affected Dark Willow to the Captains Mode, which resulted in five picks, five bans, and a combined 50% win rate during the Bucharest Major a week later. Also, the Bounty Rune gives you ten additional gold, but doesn’t give you any XP anymore. This will make the life of roaming heroes harder and reduce the amount of ganks. Players will probably have to return to old strategies, such as stacking and pulling creeps to balance their situation on the map. Make sure you check the full list of changes made to hero characteristics.

Patches 7.11–7.12

The second patch, 7.11, affected the game economics, and it is smaller compared to the two other updates. It changes the way buyback and gold formulas work. You can check the detailed explanation and formulas here. The last update that was released in March is 7.12—it’s interesting to note that the patch was introduced during Dota 2 Asia Championship, adding Pangolier to the Captains Mode. The hero was picked 10 times and banned 16 times, with an overall win rate of 30.77%, which shows the high adaptability of professional players.

Tournaments

**1)  ** The Bucharest Major (March 4–11)

This championship is the fourth major organized by PGL, a Romanian event coordinator. The competition was held from March 4 to March 11 in Polyvalent Hall, Bucharest. 16 teams from Dota 2 Pro Circuit fought for their share of the $1,000,000 prize pool and 1,500 DPC. During the group stage, teams played in the Swiss system five round format and all matches were played by a best-of-one format.

The top eight teams advanced to the playoffs with the single-elimination bracket system. All matches were played in a best-of-three format, except for finals, which used a Bo5 system. Virtus.Pro won the championship, taking home $500,000 and 750 DPC points per player. VGJ.Thunder took second place, gaining $200,000 in prize money and 450 DPC. Newbee and Team Liquid landed third and fourth, winning $90,000 each and earning 150 DPC points per player.

**2)  ** Dota 2 Asia Championship (March 29–April 7)

The championship was held in Shanghai from March 29 to April 7. Shanghai Oriental Sports Center hosted the major competition.

16 teams participated in the event, competing for the $1,000,000 prize money and 1,500 DPC points to higher their chances for getting an invitation to the International.

During the Group stage, the teams played in best-of-one round-robin. The two top teams from each group advanced directly to the playoffs and the two bottom teams were eliminated. The main event was comprised of two stages: breakout and playoffs. Teams from groups that finished from 3rd to 6th place play one round of best-of-three matches and four winners advanced to the playoffs.

Eight best teams competed in the double-elimination bracket. The first two rounds of the lower bracket was played by best-of-one, other matches are best-of-three, and the Grand Final was played by best-of-five. Mineski won the tournament, earning $370,000 and 750 DPC points. LGD Gaming finished second, taking home $135,000 and 450 DPC. Virtus.Pro took third place, winning $105,000 and 225 DPC.

Player Transfers

March wasn’t very fruitful with action considering player transfers—it’s not the transfer season and admitting a new player would result in cancellation of the invitations the team had, so the crew would have to fight their way to the top through open qualifiers. So, most major teams aren’t risking their tickets to the International and will wait for the transfer window to open.

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