New Realms Collide event billed as South America’s biggest ever

The South American Dota 2 scene is historically the most under-served, but Valve is looking to address this soon.

Peruvian tournament organizer 4D Esports has announced a new event called Realms Collide. The tournament will be held with support from Dota 2 publisher Valve and will boast a $75,000 prize pool. The news was revealed with a unique animated trailer featuring the four elemental spirit characters.

“We will be partnering with Valve to bring the biggest tournament in the history of South America. We are humbled by the support and we hope you enjoy this edition of Realms Collide,” 4D Esports announced on Twitter.

The trailer also seemingly revealed a list of invitees to the event which included the following teams:

• Team Unknown
• ex-CR4ZY
• beastcoast
• Infinity Esports
• Thunder Predator
• 4 Zoomers
• Infamous
• Ego Boys
• Havan Liberty

It is unclear how many other teams will participate in the event or what format the event will use. The event seems to be a mixed North and South America event, but there are a pair of surprising omissions from the invitee list in Quincy Crew and Evil Geniuses.

Whether they will be invited later, are set to pass on the event, or will be forced to compete in qualifiers is unknown. 

4D Esports is a Peruvian tournament organizer that began hosting events in 2019. Though most of them have been exclusive to South America, the company branched out into North America with the Great American Rivalry earlier this year, which boosted a $47,500 prize pool.

Valve is sponsoring Dota 2 tournaments, but will it save pro Dota 2?

Realms Collide is the fourth online tournament in 2020 to be sponsored by Valve that is separate from the Dota Pro Circuit. Alongside this, Valve put its weight behind Dota Summit 13 and a pair of events hosted by Movistar Liga Pro Gaming. These events are meant to serve as a supplement for the Dota Pro Circuit, which faces an uncertain future.

The trouble is that the amount of money being put into these events still pales in comparison to that of even a single Dota 2 major. The indefinite postponement of The International 2020 removes more than half of the prize pool money that was set to change hands in pro Dota 2 this year. Not only do these events fall well short of replacing The International, they don’t even add up to a Dota Pro Circuit major.

Short of putting together tens of events with six-figure prize pools, Dota 2 pros are paying a literal price for Valve’s inability to pivot to a new tournament landscape. Events such as Realms Collide are nice, but they aren’t enough to make up the difference for pro players and teams.