Gaming
Gaming
What you need to know about Red Bull Heroicks
The world’s best Dota 2 teams are coming to Germany this autumn for a whole new type of tournament.
Is this the most stunning location for Dota 2?
© Red Bull
Get ready for Red Bull Heroicks, a new Dota 2 competition in a brand new setting. Red Bull is bringing together some of the top international squads and Dota personalities – as well as 5,000 fans – for a tournament in the grounds of the Schloss Rastatt palace in Rastatt (updated), Germany, over the weekend of September 17–18.
This isn't just another knockout competition however. Instead, five top teams will do battle using the new Life System mode. Each team starts out with a stock of three lives; for each loss, one is removed. After every match, the winning team will then select the next two sides to face each other. The winning team and Red Bull Heroicks champions will be the last team left standing with one life or more.
The line-up
OG
© OG
So far, three of the five teams – which will be made up of four invitations and one qualifier – have been announced. Limbering up to fight it out in this new format will be international squads Alliance and 2015 Frankfurt Major and 2016 Manila Championship winners OG, while master casters Tobiwan and Merlini will on hosting duty. They'll all be joined by two more top name teams, to be announced soon, as well as one wildcard team, perhaps even you.
That's because Red Bull Heroicks is giving one rookie team the chance to compete on the world stage. Four open online qualifiers will take place between June and August on joindota.com – full details will be announced soon.
Even if you don't qualify, you'll still be able to influence the course of the tournament, as Red Bull Heroicks is introducing the Hero Challenge, which lets the audience get involved by voting for a hero.
Before the Pick and Ban phase of each game, the tournament casters will present two heroes for you to select in a live vote – the one with the most votes cannot be banned – and the teams can win prizes for selecting them. In other words, every team will need a game plan apart from banning Miracle-'s deadly Shadow Fiend.
Want to be there for all the action and the after party? Tickets are on sale now at the Red Bull Heroicks website, and if you act fast you can still nab the Early Bird pricing.
Stay tuned to find out which other top teams will be heading to the Rastatt and for more coverage of the tournament, follow @RedBulleSports on Twitter and like us on Facebook.
