DreamLeague Season 29 Tips Off Tomorrow With $1 Million Up for Grabs

The Dota 2 spring grind hits a new gear today. DreamLeague Season 29 starts 13 May, runs through to 24 May, and brings 16 teams together for a $1 million A-tier event in Western Europe.

That is enough money and enough names that the result matters in the wider EPT race. It is not Esports World Cup money and it is not The International. But it is the biggest Dota 2 tournament on the May calendar, and the timing puts it in the middle of the Road to TI conversation.

DreamLeague Season 29 schedule and format

The prize pool sits at $1 million across the 16-team field. The format splits into two group stages running side by side from 13 to 17 May, with the surviving teams moving into a single-elimination playoff bracket from 19 to 24 May.

We have full pages tracking each stage as it happens:

• DreamLeague Season 29 Group A – 13 to 17 May
• DreamLeague Season 29 Group B – 13 to 17 May
• DreamLeague Season 29 Playoffs – 19 to 24 May

Each page carries the live bracket, match times, and team-by-team results as they land.

For the broader TI context, we covered The International 2026 prize pool last week. DreamLeague is one of the last big A-tier scoring stops before the EPT race tightens up for the summer.

Teams to watch

Liquid have looked sharp through European tier-1 play this spring and arrive as one of the bracket favourites. Whether they can turn that form into a trophy here is the obvious story.

The other names hovering near the top of the EPT board all have something to prove. Falcons, Tundra, and Xtreme Gaming if they make the cut. The bracket is wide open enough that two or three of the more dangerous tier-2 sides could push deep with a hot run through groups.

Patch 7.41c is going to matter

Lone Druid mains, look away. Patch 7.41c dropped on 7 May and handed Lone Druid a heavy nerf, which is going to ripple through draft phases at DreamLeague. The patch was the third letter update on the current version, which is unusual. Valve normally lands one or two and then waits.

The pattern suggests Valve is settling the meta before TI, and DreamLeague is the first big tournament running on 7.41c. For item builds and the patch’s full impact on what is strongest right now, we put together a Dota item guide for Patch 7.41.

Expect drafts to shift through the group stage. The teams that read the patch best in scrim week are the teams that come out of groups in a good spot. Several top sides have already shown signs of adapting. Several have not.

The Road to TI 2026 is heating up

EPT points decide who gets the direct TI invites, and DreamLeague is one of the major scoring stops. Teams that crash out of groups will feel the EPT pressure for the rest of the spring.

For everything else, our Dota 2 news hub tracks every result and patch as it lands. You can also follow the DreamLeague Season 29 page on Liquipedia for the full bracket and stream links.

What to watch for once the brackets open

The first thing worth tracking is whether Liquid’s spring form holds up against the field. A DreamLeague trophy would lift them from contender to TI favourite.

The second is which carry heroes the meta lands on now that Lone Druid is taking a hit. Drafts in week one are going to be a mess until the strongest 7.41c picks get figured out, and the team that figures them out first usually wins the trophy.

The third is the EPT bubble. There are teams in this bracket who need the points. A deep run for any of them shifts the TI invite picture.

DreamLeague Season 29 starts today. Group stage runs through 17 May. Playoffs kick off 19 May. Grand final lands 24 May. We will be covering every match.