Chinese Dota 2 team DK to attend MLG Championship in Columbus

Major League Gaming has announced that it has worked with the Chinese Dota 2 team DK and the Association of China Esports (ACE) to bring DK to the Major League Gaming Championship in Columbus, Ohio later this year. Excluding The International, this will be the first time that a Chinese Dota 2 team has played an event outside of Asia.

MLG's Executive Vice President Adam Apicella told GameSpot, "We're very excited as this will be the first time a team from China will be competing at a MLG Pro Circuit Championship. Our goal is to always have the best players from around the world competing at our events and I feel this is a step in the right direction. We're very appreciative that ACE was able to accommodate our request to have DK play at our event, and we look forward to working closely with them in the future."

When asked to further elaborate on the conversations that led to DK's decision to attend, Apicella continued, "We leaned heavily on community members to communicate with DK and ACE. We initially thought that DK would be unable to attend due to ACE tournament scheduling conflict, but as stated earlier, ACE was able to make the changes necessary for DK to attend."

DK's Manager, Peng "Farseer" Bei, remarked in a separate interview, "We are really honored to attend MLG, even if just for a few days. We will do our best to play nice games to all Dota 2 fans, hope fans can come and cheer for us." For more, check out the full interview, which includes remarks from his players Yee Fung "Mushi" Chai and Zhi Lei "BurNIng" Xu.

DK will be joined at the MLG Championship by The International 3 winners Alliance, the International 3 runners-up Na'vi, Evil Geniuses, TeamLiquid, Fnatic, the winner of MLG's North American Dota 2 League, and the winners of a North American qualifier.

GameSpot asked Apicella what he and his company had planned next year for Dota 2. He left GameSpot with, "We are gathering as much data as possible from our online tournaments, NA Online League broadcasts, and our upcoming live events at Full Sail and Columbus. We hope to use this information to shape our 2014 endeavors. Whatever we do, we will definitely focus heavily on North American players/teams and look to integrate international competition throughout the year, similar to what we are doing with MLG Championship in Columbus."

The MLG Championship takes place in Columbus, Ohio at the Greater Columbus Convention center November 22-24 and boasts a prize pool of $50,000. General admission passes for MLG Columbus can be purchased online for $35. VIP passes, which include priority seating, early admission, and an MLG hoodie, can be purchased for $250. Both are available at the MLG Store.

Correction: EHOME attended ESWC 2011, so this will not be the first time a Chinese Dota 2 team has attended an event oustide of Asia.