DPC slot can be sold
Author: Hawk Live LLC
Last updated:
Valve updated the rules and information before the start of the new Dota Pro Circuit 2021/2022 season. In addition to all the countless and important information, the developers wrote in FAQ about DPC slot. And, as it turned out, not everything is so simple.
Valve Rules
Back in early 2021, Valve did not clarify the rules for ownership and transfer of the slot. Because of this, many questions have arisen. Players and managers had to clarify all the nuances directly with the developers every time.
Before the season 2021/2022 on the official Dota 2 website in the were write answers to several frequently asked questions on the topic:
Who owns a team slot?
The owner of the slot is the person who is registered as the admin of the team. In the case of a team organization, this generally is a manager or a person representing the organization. In other cases it can be the captain of a team, any specific player or a neutral third party.
Can a team change admin after creation?
Yes, an person that is an admin can transfer the admin to someone else at any point.
Can a team get acquired by an organization or a different organization?
Yes, a team roster can be transferred to a new team and a new admin.
Valve's position is clear. They counted on good relationships within the team, agreements and stability.
However, as it turned out later, not all players and managers can come to an agreement on their own. In addition, a large part of the DPC participants do not have an organization and actually consist of five players and, possibly, a manager with a coach.
Agreements may not be respected, people may quarrel, teams may break up. Within the collective itself, there is not always a third party who, in the event of a conflict, can settle it. Then under what circumstances should Valve intervene?
EternaLEnVy and Black N Yellow
Jacky «EternaLEnVy» Mao is famous for "second place" memes. And here he was not the first too. However, as with tournaments, the public did not pass up such a scandal.
The conflict happened due to a split within the Black N Yellow team. The reasons in this case are not interesting to us. But the consequences are indicative.
EternaLEnVy decided that the team was playing poorly and the roster needed to be replaced. As a result, he found two substitutes and together they expected to participate in the regional qualifiers for TI10.
But, the slot owner was Daniel «zero» Yun. And, according to him, he assumed such situation. Despite the fact that the slot remained with him, the team was actually gone.
As a result, Black N Yellow assembled a new roster. EternaLEnVy moved to sadboys, which was renamed and played in the qualifiers as bumble bEE's. However, most interestingly, both parties to the conflict noticed the fact that DPC rules regarding slot ownership need to be changed.
EternaLEnVy:
I find it bullshit that a player has "ownership" of a team just because they did the sign up.
zero:
I do find the "ownership" vs 3/5 situation a little strange and should be further looked at from Valve but I think they were expecting teams to have amicable relationships.
How Dendi lost and back a slot
The most discussed recent event in CIS, which we told about in the article «Dendi lost DPC slot. B8 incident and the imperfection of the system».
It would seem that the result is clear. According to the rules, the former manager takes the slot because he registered it. And Danil «Dendi» Ishutin with a new roster will play in the open qualifiers.
And to a surprise for many, B8 announced that Valve has given them back their spot in the Lower Division of Eastern Europe. As stated in the article, there was supposedly an agreement between the parties. Thanks to it the organization did not have to fight for a place in the second division.
After viewing the confirmation of our agreements and messages with the previous owner of the slot, Valve returned the slot to B8 organization.
We will participate in the second division of the DPC league and we will need your support!
We encourage other organizations to work out their relationships with slot owners through agreements to avoid similar situations in the future
By the way, great advice at the end. After all, this is what caused this situation. But why did Valve decide to make such a decision in this case?
Transfer and sale
If you take a closer look at the big post from tony, you can see one interesting point:
Given that the slots cost 5-10-15 thousand dollars.
So, the former manager knew the market value of the DPC slot. This means that someone is already trading them or trying to do so.
If you look at the prize money in the lower division, you can roughly estimate the minimum cost of a seat in the regional league.
Regional League - Division II
- 1st Place — $17,000 — Promoted to Division I
- 2nd Place — $16,000 — Promoted to Division I
- 3rd Place — $15,000
- 4th Place — $11,000
- 5th Place — $9,000
- 6th Place — $7,000
- 7th Place — Eliminated from Division II
- 8th Place — Eliminated from Division II
The minimum prize money at the end of the season will be $7,000. The $5k-10k price tag seems logical. And the better the result, the more prize money in the end. And this is without the need to play in the open qualifiers. Plus, this is an opportunity to go to the first division or even try to get to The International. Oh yeah, don't forget about the team support bundles that the team can earn from.
The situation with the first division is even more interesting. Indeed, in addition to money and qualifications for TI, players get the opportunity to compete for a ticket to one of the majors at the end of the season. The price for such slots can be much higher than the potential prize money in the league.
The official Valve's rules do not contradict this. In theory, you could transfer your league spot to anyone. And, of course, not for free.
Any organization or team, with a sponsor and money, is able to buy a DPC slot. This caused a storm of discussions at the beginning of the year.
Although not everyone may be interested in the deal. EXTREMUM refused to participate in the tournaments due to lack of squad. Thanks to this, three new teams at once will be able to pass the open qualifiers and get into the second division of Eastern Europe. They did it voluntarily, no one forbid them to transfer the slot to another team or sell it. But they decided so.
On the one hand, selling a seat in the Dota Pro Circuit runs counter to sports interest. Moreover, most of the community is extremely negative about this. If you want a place in the DPC - prove that you deserve it.
And the recent scandal with the sale of e-sportsmen's smurf accounts confirms this. Someone for money buy acc and play with those who really play at this level. And here a whole DPC slot can be sold.
On the other hand, we have the example of League of Legends, where a slot in a league can be sold to another team. Yes, there are many nuances and the developers are directly involved. But this does not bother anyone there, it only arouses interest in the deal and, of course, the amount of money per slot.
Organizations can enter and leave the game. And what to do with the slot if the roster disbanded and went to other teams? What about two players who are on the same team but have two league spots? Transfer or sell.
This may already be happening now in Dota 2 before the start of the new Dota Pro Circuit season. But no one will tell us about it. Perhaps we will find out about this closer to November 21st.
