Perfect World has set the dates and invites for this year's Dota 2 Asia Championships in Shanghai, China. On Apr. 1-4, 12 teams will compete for the top prize, which has not been set at this time.
The four directly invited teams are Evil Geniuses, Wings Gaming, OG and Newbee. The other eight spots will go to regional qualifiers: four from Asia, and one each from the Americas, Southeast Asia, Europe and CIS regions. The group stage commences Jan. 13 for the Asia qualifiers, and at an undetermined time for the rest of the qualifier regions.
This is the second-ever DAC, with the first being established in 2015. The tournament is considered one of the largest premiers outside of the majors, and in 2015 boasted over $3 million in prize pool. Though it had a Compendium and attached ticket to watch DAC matches in the Dota 2 client, Perfect World confirmed in its announcement that all DAC 2017 matches would be available free in-client.
Group stage play will run Mar. 28-30 prior to the event. No format for the group stage has been formally announced, though 2015's DAC was a full round-robin group stage between the 16 teams in attendance that year, leading into a 12-team double-elimination bracket.