A special Dota 2 tournament organised, hosted and customized by Red Bull, is coming to the Red Bull Gaming Sphere today and running through tomorrow, October 20. Four leading pro Dota teams from around the world will be competing in and showcasing a new competition that will change the way pro players have to think about their strategy, thanks to a major twist brought by Red Bull.

Special Tournament Feature

While Dota’s core gameplay remains untouched, there is an additional drafting phase in which teams can choose three extra heroes to be used as live substitutes during the game. Players will be able to swap between each hero during the game, and the substitutes used will retain the same items and experience as the hero they replace. There is also a 3-minute individual cooldown attached to each player, which limits the use of this new Red Bull Guardians-exclusive ability.

Casting: Teams and e-Sportscasters

Four pro Dota 2 teams from around the world are flying to London to compete in the double elimination Red Bull Guardians tournament: paiN Gaming, Mineski, Lithium, and Rooons.

• Minseki is a Southeast Asian team composed of pro players from Malaysia, South Korea and Australia, that won the Dota 2 Asia Championships earlier this year.
• PaiN Gaming is a mixed Brazilian-Romanian team that finished first in the WESG 2017 South America Finals.
• Team Lithium is a new European team competing in the 2018/19 Dota Pro Circuit season with many experienced Greek, Finnish and German players on their roster.
• Rooons is also a Dota 2 team from North America, made of Canadian and American) players with experience in international tournaments.

e-Sportscasters include well-known Dota 2 casters Blitz, Capitalist, Fogged, and ODPixel, who will be on commentary duty, while Sheever will be hosting the show.

Where to Watch the Live Stream

You’ll be able to watch Red Bull Guardians live on Twitch, or on any embedded live broadcast such as that displayed below, on 19-20 October from 10am-10pm (UK time), according to the annoucement.

More information about the tournament can be found on the official Red Bull page