Beyond Epic Dota 2: Schedule, format, teams, prize pool and how to watch

Yet another big online Dota 2 tournament is about to get underway. The Beyond Epic Dota 2 tournament series features Europe/CIS, as well as a China regional tournaments.

Here's everything you need to know about the Beyond Epic Dota 2 tournament series.

About Beyond Epic Dota 2

The Beyond Epic Dota 2 tournament series is created by Beyond the Summit, in partnership with RuHub and Epicenter. The tournament features some of the best Dota 2 teams in Europe/CIS, as well as China.

• Read more: BLAST Bounty Hunt Dota 2 to be broadcast on GINX Esports TV: Schedule and how to watch

Due to the tournament series being entirely online, there are two different tournaments for fans to enjoy. The biggest one is the Europe/CIS regional tournament, while the smaller one is the China regional tournament. This is evident by fewer teams and a smaller prize pool in the Chinese regional tournament. 

In a press release on Epicenter, this joint tournament is explained: "The joint tournament combines the experience of the three leading esports tycoons to achieve the best esports show among the world’s leading regions and teams."

With top teams and some of the best organizers in the world, the Beyond Epic Dota 2 tournament series is sure to be a treat for fans.

Prize pool

With the Europe/CIS tournament being bigger than the Chinese tournament, the prize pool is also bigger. In total, there's a $250,000 prize pool for Beyond Epic. 

The Europe/CIS tournament gets $200,000, while the China tournament gets $50,000.

Beyond Epic features a total prize pool of $250,000 (Picture: BeyondTheSummit)

At the time of writing, prize pool distribution for each tournament is still unknown. However, expect the winning team in each region to get the lion's share.

Teams

After both open and closed qualifiers, all the Beyond Epic Dota 2 teams except for one have been confirmed. 

Most of the Beyond Epic Dota 2 teams have been invited, and the organizers closed things off by inviting Team Secret, a team who has been dominating the recent online tournaments.

Europe/CIS teams:

• Virtus.pro
• Natus Vincere
• OG
• Nigma
• Team Liquid
• Alliance
• FlyToMoon
• Team Unique
• Ninjas in Pyjamas
• Team Secret
• Empire Hope
• Vikin.gg

China teams:

• PSG.LGD
• Vici Gaming
• Royal Never Give Up
• CDEC Gaming
• Invictus Gaming
• Team Aster
• Sparking Arrow Gaming

Empire Hope and Vikin.gg claiming the final two spots in Europe/CIS. The organizers are yet to announce the final direct-invite Chinese team.

Format

The Beyond Epic Dota 2 format is a bit different for the two regions. Let's start with the Europe/CIS regional tournament.

Europe/CIS format:

Two groups of six teams will compete in a round-robin group stage, with the top two teams advancing to the upper bracket of the playoffs. 3rd and 4th place teams advance to the lower bracket, while the bottom two teams get eliminated.

The playoffs feature a double-elimination bracket, with all matches being best-of-three, except for the grand finals, which is best-of-five.

China format:

There will be two groups of four teams competing in a GSL-style format. The top two teams advance to the upper bracket of the playoffs, while the bottom two teams get eliminated.

The playoffs feature a double-elimination bracket, with all matches being best-of-three, except for the grand finals, which is best-of-five.

Schedule

The Europe/CIS Beyond Epic tournament group stage runs from 15th to 24th June, with the playoffs running from 25th to 28th June.

For the Chinese regional tournament, the group stage runs from 21st to 25th June, with the playoffs running from 26th to 28th June.

At the time of writing, specific start times each day for the China regional tournament is still unknown. For the Beyond Epic Europe/CIS tournament, expect the group stage matches to kick off each day at 13:00 UK time.

Beyond Epic Dota 2: How to watch

You can watch all the Dota 2 esports action from Beyond Epic, both in English and Russian, on Twitch.

• BeyondTheSummit (English)
• Dota2RuHub (Russian)

Alternatively, you can watch some matches Beyond Epic matches when they take place on the BeyondTheSummit YouTube channel.