PGL Arlington Major: in anticipation of the troubled tournament

PGL Arlington Major, the finish line on the road to the main Dota 2 event of the year called The International 11, starts soon. It is difficult to underestimate the importance of this tournament because it will be the last opportunity for its participants to earn rating DPC points, which are required to make it to the World Championship in October. However, the Major has not begun yet but it is clear that the Arlington tournament will be troubled and not as good as we would like it to be.

American visas and the impact of the Russian aggression against Ukraine

Tournaments in the USA have always been associated with an unpleasant bureaucratic procedure, namely, getting a US visa. There have always been players who were not able to attend a competition for different reasons.

Due to the full-scale aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine earlier this year, the situation has only worsened. Russian players are denied visas because of sanctions in the majority of cases.

Visa issues have led to the following roster changes:

• Three Fnatic players, namely Raven, Armel, and Jaunuel, were not able to get US visas, so the club had to withdraw from the Major. But the organizers helped the team from Southeast Asia and Fnatic will participate with stand-ins;
• The carry of Xtreme Gaming under the nickname lou also did not receive the desired pass. The Chinese club made a radical decision to refuse to participate;
• SabeRLight- will replace Pure on the Entity roster at the Major;
• The roster of Talon Esports has also faced losses. Q will not be able to go to Arlington;
• Thunder Awaken will be late for the tournament and will suffer a technical loss in the first match. Players can’t get American visas in time;
• The two-time The International champion, ana will play for Royal Never Give Up where he will replace Ghost;
• The story repeats in the ranks of OG. The 5th position player Misha and, also, the coach of the roster Chuvash have not got visas, so Ceb will stand in. Sébastien Debs performed brilliantly at ESL One Stockholm 2022 when the legendary club faced the same issue. The name of the stand-in coach is unknown now but, probably, it will be n0tail.

And it is just the problems, which are known at the moment of writing. It is unclear whether the team Outsiders will come to PGL Arlington Major because its roster fully consists of Russian players.

The popularity of Dota 2 in North America and the time zone issue

It is worth noting not the highest popularity of this esports discipline in North America. It is clearly reflected by the viewing statistics for the recently-finished regional leagues of the DPC season 2021/2022.

According to the data provided by the analytical agency Esports Charts, Western Europe is the leader in terms of popularity at the moment. The region can boast 23,84 million hours of viewers and a peak number of 246,513 viewers. North America places 4th after Western Europe, Eastern Europe, and Southeast Asia. The number of hours watched was equal to 6,52 million in North America and the peak number of viewers on a broadcast was 79,444.

Also, the important thing is the time zone in Arlington, Texas – GMT -5. And it directly influences the time fans all over the world will be watching matches for the title of the Dota 2 Major champion. For example, it means for the author of this article that the grand final of PGL Arlington Major will begin at 2 a.m. if we compare it to ESL One Stockholm 2022. And the bo5 series will be over in the morning, which is pretty uncomfortable. And fans from many countries in the world will face this problem.

What is the tournament operator PGL known for?

PGL is famous for hosting a row of Majors and other championships since 2014:

• The Manila Major 2016
• The Kyiv Major 2017
• China Dota2 Supermajor
• ONE Esports Singapore Major 2021
• Dota Pro Circuit 2021: Season 1-2 - Southeast Asia

PGL also carried out the main Dota 2 event of the year, The International, which was won by Team Spirit last year. It can’t be said that PGL tournaments stand out with their special level of organizing, so it is not worth expecting something supernatural from the upcoming Major. There will be technical issues and match delays.

Conclusion

Of course, we are waiting for a spectacular and interesting championship because all participants want to get to The International 11, so the competition will be hard. But it will be better for viewers to reduce their expectations after all because teams will arrive with stand-ins, so their gaming level will be respectively lower. The COVID-19 pandemic has not disappeared, so one of the players might get sick at the worst possible moment.

It will be better for the competitive scene if Valve decides to reconsider the system and stop focusing on The International, which devalues the rest of the competitions. But for now, let’s keep waiting for the beginning of PGL Arlington Major and stock up on popcorn. You can follow the events together with EGamersWorld!