MANILA— The Philippines takes pride of hosting the first DOTA 2 tournament of 2018 as Fallout Gaming and Purpose Win presents the 2nd Galaxy Battles at the Philippine Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan from Jan. 15-21.
The major tournament will have 18 clubs colliding for USD1 million (PHP51 million) cash.
Eight teams will be directly invited to the tournament proper, while the other 10 teams will be determined through the regional qualifiers next month.
Newbee, the champion of the first Galaxy Battles in Shenzhen, China last June, will defend its title on the road as the Chinese club earned one of the first four direct invites as announced on Friday during the media launch at the Samsung Hall inside SM Aura.
Joining Newbee are Infamous, OG, and TNC.
True to its theme “Emerging Worlds”, upstart DOTA teams from Southeast Asia will have a chance to experience a major tournament as the finalists in the New Blood Championship will proceed to the Galaxy Battles wildcard playoffs.
The first two days will be devoted for the closed-door group stages, while following a two-day break, the last three days will be the playoff period.
Ticket selling for the playoffs will begin on November.