For a short while, it seemed like the teams from the region would not be able to participate in the second Major of the season on account of plane ticket issues.
Flight issues from China and back
PSG.LDG coach Zhang “xiao8” Ning has raised the alarm in a Weibo thread about the Chinese regional teams potentially missing out on the season-defining DPC Major because of a logistical hiccup.
“We may not be able to go [to Kiev] as there are no return tickets from Ukraine. The organizer didn’t book return tickets for us. We may not be allowed to depart without return tickets” – he wrote in a social media post translated by /u/zyc1629 on Reddit. A few hours later, WePlay Esports has announced a solution: they’ve organized a public flight for the teams in question.
WePlay earned praise for the quick turnaround and their willingness to use resources in order to find a solution. They also clarified the situation in the Reddit thread with the following:
“Chinese teams had had return tickets in the first place which were attached to their visa applications. However, due to the recent changes in the (European) airspace, these tickets are voided. The team at WePlay is currently looking for new flight paths and is doing everything possible to provide the teams with new round tickets to solve the issue.”
WePlay: AniMajor teams and schedule
The second Major of the 2020-2021 DPC season will take place between June 2 and June 13 in Kiev under the auspices of WePlay.
WePlay: AniMajor format
Wild Card – June 2-3
Six teams play in a best-of-two single round-robin brackets for the two spots in the main event.
Group stage – June 4-7
The two teams from the Wild Card change join six other sides to make up the eight-team group stage. The basic format is the same: best-of-two matches in a single round-robin bracket. The top two teams advance to the playoffs’ upper bracket and the 3-6th teams begin in the lower bracket. The bottom two teams are eliminated.
Playoffs – June 9-13
The group stage survivors join the six teams who directly qualified for the playoffs via the DPC. The playoff bracket, as per usual, is a double elimination format with best-of-three matches all the way until the best-of-five grand final.
DPC 2020-21 standings
These are the DPC standings going into the event, with the following sides currently in the top twelve (teams qualified for the Major are marked in bold):
1. Evil Geniuses (1250 – already qualified for TI10)
2. Virtus.pro (1200 – already qualified for TI10)
3. Invictus Gaming (1100 – already qualified for TI10)
4. Team Secret (950 – already qualified for TI10)
5. Alliance (800)
5. Quincy Crew (800)
5. Beastcoast (800)
5. PSG.LGD (800)
5. Team Aster (800)
5. Thunder Predator (800)
11. T1 (670)
12. OB Esports x Neon (650)
