The International 2019 Fantasy Challenge goes live in battle pass

The International 2019’s Fantasy Challenge mini-game is now live.

In the most recent Dota 2 update, TI9 player cards were officially unveiled, giving fans the opportunity to open the card packs they have received over recent weeks. As in years past, these cards are used to play the Fantasy Challenge mini-game during The International.

Fantasy Dota 2 works very similar to daily fantasy games for traditional sports like football and basketball. Battle pass owners pick out a lineup of players each day during The International and receive points based on their real-life performance with statistics like kills, GPM, and stuns all being assigned different values.

Points are totaled at the end of the event with competitors rated based on their percentile relative to all other battle pass owners. After the completion of The International 2019, the top 50% receive 4,000 battle pass points, the top 25% receive 8,000, and the top 10% receive 16,000.

Fantasy Dota 2 changes for The International 2019

For the most part, the Fantasy Challenge works the same way as in previous years with players earning 0.3 points per kill, 0.5 points for each observer ward planted and so on. There are two key changes, however.

First is that the battle pass compendium no longer lists assists as producing points. It is unclear if this was done in error or if scoring parameters have been changed. If the latter is true, this would greatly impact the value of different positions.

In past years, cores and supports have been comparable in terms of average points per game. Though cores would also be hit by the removal of assists, this would sting support players much more as they are traditionally tasked with setting up kills rather than securing them. This would greatly reduce the impact of top supports in the Fantasy Challenge.

The other big change is that positions have been realigned. While The International 2018 had mid laners and carries grouped together at the “core” position while offlaners were given their own dedicated spot, this year has carries and offlaners are paired up while mid lane players are made distinct.

While top mids such as Syed "SumaiL" Hassan and Lu “Maybe” Yao have traditionally yielded stronger numbers than carries, carries have still been able to produce similar yields. Offlaners have stood a clear step below both, with the top offlaner of The International 2018 rating at 45th overall in terms of average points per game.

Because of this, battle pass owners would be well-served by familiarizing themselves with each team’s lineup to ensure they play carries in the core position rather than offlaners.

The Fantasy Challenge scoring criteria can be found in the fantasy section of the TI9 battle pass compendium. The International 2019 begins on August 15.