With only 10 days till the event, the groups for The Manilla Major held in Manilla, Philippines have been released for the group stages of the tournament. The tournament will have an initial standard group stage format followed by an upper bracket and a lower bracket stage. The Manilla Major is the last Valve tournament before the International this year and will be a chance for teams to showcase their talent before the big tournament in the summer.
The groups for this tournament, while many might comment indifferently, seem to be relatively difficult for each group. The groups can be found on http://wiki.teamliquid.net/dota2/Manila_Major/2016 , or through this twitter post:
The Manila Major Groups – June 3-4, 2016. Get ready. #Dota2 #ManilaMajor pic.twitter.com/w19CnQdLGH
— Wykrhm Reddy (@wykrhm) May 28, 2016
Group A looks to be a battle of the century with OG and Newbee being the top contenders for the winners bracket. Group B will likely see Team Secret and the recent victors of ESL One Manila Wings Gaming on the top. Group C is considered to be the “group of death” of the tournament with many of the best teams in the world. While it is almost undisputed, Liquid will likely advance in the winners bracket as they are considered the best team in the world currently and have recently won the Epicenter Dota 2 Tournament held in Moscow. The second spot for the winners bracket will definitely be a brawl worth watching. Finally Group D will likely see Evil Geniuses advancing with the second team to be yet again another brawl. The tournament will have a $3 Million dollar prize pool similarly to the other major Valve events and will take place from June 7-June 13th.
