We can proudly disclose one more participant of our upcoming season: Alliance, the recently crowned champions of The International, have accepted our invitation to the RaidCall ESL Major Series One. They are one of three teams to join the group stage directly, skipping the cups.

After their impressive performance in Seattle, we will soon get to see Loda, Akke, s4, AdmiralBulldog and EGM back in action. Historically, the five Swedes had a tough time in the EMS. In the first season, they dominated the online stages but lost to mousesports in the quarter final, ending up #5-8. Three months later, Alliance was forced to drop out from the Summer 2013 season after having successfully qualified for the LAN finals. Will they have better luck this time?

Before Alliance steps in, we have four cups coming up, where our Core Teams grant new challengers from the A-Series the chance to prove themselves in the big arena. The nine best teams will be joined by three more teams, forming three groups with four teams each. From there, six teams advance to the live event – lots of high-class Dota guaranteed!