Dota 2 MDL Series Betting Odds and Guide
MDL or Mars Dota 2 League is a tournament brand owned by Mars Media, a Chinese company located in Shanghai. MDL events began modestly in 2014 but since then, the tournaments grew a lot both in scale as well as in number. In 2018 and 2019 there were four such events and three of them had prize pools of $1 million. They also provided numerous esports betting opportunities for those who wanted to bet on Dota 2.
At VulkanBet, we always cover MDL tournaments and provide a wide variety of wager types for those who want to bet on esports.
Match Winner
Team to Draw First Blood
Total Kills Odd/Even
To Destroy First Tower
Team to kill Roshan
Map duration
First Kill
Kill Handicap
Total Roshans slained
Odd/Even maps
Correct map score
Total maps
Map handicap
Map winner
Race to kills
Total kills
Mars Media has a close relationship with Valve and they are constantly offered opportunities to have their events featured in the Dota Pro Circuit. Over the last three seasons, MDL has had one Major in every single DPC. That’s very impressive considering the fact that there are a lot of tournament organizers in Dota 2 and the circuit only has five Majors per year.
The structure of MDL events depends on their type. These days, the organizer only puts together three types of tournaments.
These are events that can take place either as part of the Dota Pro Circuit or on their own. They usually involve eight teams and have two stages. In the Group Stage, the teams play against each other in a Round Robin format. What happens next depends on what the organizer wants to do. Sometimes they only allow the top four teams to participate in the Playoffs. Other times they allow everyone to advance but place the top four teams in the Upper Bracket.
Minors generally offer $300,000 in prizes. It may not be much for Dota, but it’s still a significant amount for esports in general.
MDL Majors are part of the Dota Pro Circuit and have a structure similar to that of The International, except they feature 16 teams instead of 18, have four groups instead of two and the prize pool is just $1 million.
The Group Stage of an MDL Major follows the same format that all DPC Majors use: four groups of four teams each. In every group, the top two teams advance to the Upper Bracket of the Playoffs. The bottom two teams advance to the Lower Bracket.
The Playoffs Stage uses a double-elimination bracket (GSL). Matches are mostly Bo3, apart from the first round of Lower Bracket confrontations (Bo1) and the Grand Final (Bo5).
Mars Dota 2 League is an International tournament mainly designed for the top Chinese teams. However, the event also features some of the best European and North American teams and generally provides a great show for audiences from around the world. The last edition of Mars Dota 2 League took place in 2017 and its prize pool was $250,000. The tournament had eight teams in it and was won by LGD Gaming (the present-day PSG.LGD).
Check our offer for betting on MDL events
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