Other participants are yet to decide
Virtus.pro, the number one Russia-based Dota 2 team, has officially announced that they will no longer participate in the Galaxy Battles II: Emerging Worlds, an international Dota 2 tournament set to take place in the Philippines this January, after Valve removed its Major status today.
In a press release posted by the organization, Roman Dvoryankin, the general manager of Virtus.pro, stated that Valve’s decision was the main reason behind their cancellation of the invitation.
“The said status, among all things, imposes additional standards of players’ safety, event’s technical security and logistics on the event’s organizers. Furthermore, the participation in rating tournaments has always been our main goal, therefore Galaxy Battles DPC points loss absolves the tournament of sense in that regard.”
The manager also tweeted Virtus.pro’s goal for the year’s first quarter was to secure their slot at The International 2018. As it stands, the Galaxy Battles tournament will no longer contribute points towards this goal.
Manila Galaxy Battles II tournament to be held in the Philippines from 15-21 January, was deprived of its Major status. Therefore, https://t.co/RghpmPyTHr won’t participate in it despite the direct invitation from the organizers: https://t.co/LEAWB9nqia pic.twitter.com/eisACv7qLt
— Virtus.pro (@virtuspro) January 5, 2018
There are also rumours regarding other teams backing out of the tournament since it will no longer grant Dota Pro Circuit points and the prize pool has been reduced to half with Valve’s support subtracted. No team other than Virtus.pro has released an official announcement, but we will post updates when they do.
