MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
FACEIT, the competitive platform that gives players a chance to earn points and prizes, is adapting their league to suit pro Dota players needs, too.
The league format, which organises matches for players of similar skill in order for them to earn FACEIT points, has been used with the help of some of Dota’s professional community to create an In-house league. The FACEIT Pro League works the same as any other on the platform, assigning a ranking based on the player’s MMR and raising or lowering that number after every win or loss recorded on the platform. But is limited to around 100 of pro Dota’s best players – plus the scope for high-skill players from outside the competitive circuit to join in next season.
In conjunction with FACEIT the platform enlisted Alliance’sJonathan "Loda" Berg and Natus Vincere’sGleb "Funn1k" Lipatnikov to create a way for pros to train against one another. "I was approached by some players that wanted to discuss the possibility of creating a new Inhouse League where we could just get good games and practice that would actually mirror pro games," Loda said in an announcement on Reddit. "We finally managed to achieve that ambitious goal thanks also to the support of awesome people over at Faceit which provided us a client and the biggest prizepool in the history of Inhouse Leagues!"
The prize pool of€10,000 is purely to sweeten the pot, according to FACEIT product manager Fabio Floris, whose main ambition with the league was provide support to the high-level Dota scene. "We just decided to support the inititive since we believe everything is based on pure competition, so we decided to support them, giving them the client and an initial prize money of 10,000 Euro for the first season that will last until 13 May. And also the prize money helps to keep everyone’s standards high."
The initial playerbase has been handpicked and vetted by Loda and Funn1k, ensuring only EU and CIS region players from high-ranking teams are competing against each other – along with a few unattached players who have been vouched for. However, at the end of the first season, the first standard league below the Pro League (the "Master" rank league) will promote the top three players into the pro league, offering those few a chance to compete against the best.
"This is to guarantee also the new talented players have the chance to challenge themselves with the pro level," Floris said."And maybe discover new future champions, who knows?"
To stay in the loop with eSports Pro, email esportspro@nbmedia.com to subscribe to our bi-weekly eBulletin with all the top stories you need to know in eSports right now.
