Dota 2 Tug of War: Mad Moon – Schedule and how to watch the WePlay! tournament

The WePlay! Dota 2 Tug of War: Mad Moon is the culmination of a series of tournaments that began one year ago. From 20 to 23 February, the playoff stage will take place and a champion will be crowned when the dust settles over Kyiv, Ukraine this coming Sunday.  

It is a not-to-be-missed tournament for Dota 2 esports fans to enjoy, featuring some top talent and teams. Here's everything you need to know about the WePlay! Dota 2 Tug of War: Mad Moon tournament. 

Dota 2 Tug of War: Mad Moon prize pool and format 

The Mad Moon event kicked off on 19 February (Picture: WePlay!)

The prize pool for the WePlay! Dota 2 Tug of War: Mad Moon is $300,000. However, this isn't a Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) tournament, so no DPC points will be awarded, unlike the WePlay! Bukovel Minor which took place last month. 

The prize pool structure for the WePlay! Dota 2 Tug of War: Mad Moon tournament is as follows: 

• First - $130,000 

• Second - $60,000 

• Third - $30,000 

• Fourth - $20,000 

• Fifth-Sixth - $12,000 

• Seventh-Eighth - $8,000 

The best core and support player of the tournament will be awarded $10,000 too. 

The group stage features a GSL style (round-robin) format, while the playoff stage has a double-elimination format. In the playoffs, all matches are best-of-three, except for the grand final, which is best-of-five.  

The tournament is, of course, hosted by WePlay! and you can follow their social media pages for updates each day. 

Teams and talent

The WePlay! Dota 2 Tug of War: Mad Moon tournament features eight teams. Four of these teams qualified for the tournament, while four have received direct invites.  

Check out the list of teams below. Note that at the time of writing, NiP (recently made changes to their roster) and Infamous have been eliminated during the group stage. 

• Team Secret (Direct Invite) 

• Gambit Esports (Direct Invite) 

• Nigma (Direct Invite) 

• Virtus.pro (Direct Invite) 

• Ninjas in Pyjamas (WePlay! Tug of War: Radiant winner) 

• B8 - Replaced Royal Never Give Up (WePlay! Tug of War: Dire Asia) 

• Infamous (WePlay! Tug of War: Dire America winner) 

• Aggressive Mode - Replaced Na'Vi (WePlay! Reshuffle Madness 2019) 

While Team Secret, Virtus.Pro and Nigma might be the favourites, it will be very interesting to see how Dendi's new organization (B8) can go in the tournament.  

Here's the talent for the WePlay! Tug Of War Mad Moon event (Picture: WePlay!)

The talent who will be casting and hosting the tournament (as shown in the image above) include Jorien “Sheever” van der Heijden, who is best known for her work at The International, DreamLeague and Majors. 

She is joined by the likes of Owen "ODPizel" Davies, David "GodZ" Parker and more for the English stream. 

Where and when to watch

You can watch the WePlay! Dota 2 Tug of War: Mad Moon tournament playoffs on the official Twitch.tv streams. Most of the playoffs will be streamed on the main channel, while you can also check out channel 2, channel 3 and channel 4. 

Find the playoffs schedule for 20 February 2020 below: 

• Pre-show - 12:00pm CET (11:00am GMT) 

• Group A Decider match (bo1) B8 vs Gambit Esports  - 13:00 CET (12:00 GMT) 

• Group B Decider Match [bo1] Team Nigma vs Aggressive Mode - 14:30 CET (13:30 GMT) 

• Upper Bracket Round 1 [bo3] - 16:00 CET (15:00 GMT) 

• Virtus.pro vs TBD [bo3]  - 19:00 CET (18:00 GMT) 

Keep in mind that this schedule might change slightly depending on how long the matches take to complete.  

At the time of writing, the schedule for 21 to 23 February hasn't been announced just yet. However, you can expect the first match of 21 February (Upper Bracket Round 1 match 2) to kick off at 15:00 CET (14:00 GMT) with the pre-show likely going live two hours before the match.  

Keep an eye on the WePlay! Twitter for updated match schedules each day as the tournament progresses. 

If you happen to be in Ukraine, you can also attend this fantastic Dota 2 esports tournament live. The WePlay! Dota 2 Tug of War: Mad Moon playoffs take place from 20 to 23 February 2020 in Kyiv, Ukraine, at the concert hall VDNG (9th pavilion). 

You can get free tickets via this link. At the time of writing, there are still tickets available. 

Closing Thoughts 

With some of the top Dota 2 esports teams and players, as well as world-class talent and production, the WePlay! Dota 2 Tug of War: Mad Moon tournament is undoubtedly something for Dota 2 fans to enjoy.  

While the group stages have already delivered some fantastic matches, there is much more to come with three days of playoffs. Lastly, the tournament's layout and design are exceptional, with a cyberpunk Dota 2 theme as well as Radiant and Dire stage setups.