Esport Me1win Essence III: Dota 2 Tier 1 event schedule and teams confirmed
A $200,000 Dota 2 event featuring PARIVISION, Team Spirit and Team Liquid gets underway on 12 November, with Team Yandex opting to sit out.
1win Essence III, a Tier 1 Dota 2 tournament carrying a $200,000 prize pool, begins on 12 November 2026, according to Esports.gg News.
The event is run by 1win, the same organisation backing the team led by Neta "33" Shapira, and arrives as one of the last major Dota 2 tournaments of the calendar year.
Eight teams have received direct invites: 1w, Aurora Gaming, DO, KONCA, GamerLegion, LGD Gaming, PARIVISION, Team Liquid and Team Spirit.
Esports.gg News notes that Team Yandex, currently one of the strongest rosters in the scene, has chosen not to compete, a notable absence given the calibre of the rest of the field.
The remaining four places in the 12-team line-up will be filled by qualifiers from a play-in event, though those names had not been confirmed at the time of the report.
Format-wise, the tournament opens with a group stage split into four groups of three teams apiece, with each side playing the others in its group under a round-robin structure. Only the top two from each group progress.
From there, the surviving eight teams move into a double-elimination playoff bracket. The upper bracket runs from quarter-finals through to a final, while teams dropping from the upper bracket get a second chance through a four-round lower bracket culminating in a lower bracket final.
According to the schedule reported by Esports.gg News, the playoff stage runs from 15 to 18 November 2026, with matches scheduled across each day in CET or CEST. UK viewers should note that these central European time slots run an hour ahead of GMT.
The upper bracket quarter-finals are slated for 15 November, with semi-finals following on 16 November and the upper bracket final on 17 November. Lower bracket rounds are interspersed across the same window, with the lower bracket final set for 18 November ahead of the grand final later that day.
As of the report, every fixture in the bracket is still listed as TBA pending confirmation of the four play-in qualifiers and the group stage draw, meaning the specific matchups and all results remain unconfirmed.
Esports.gg News states that matches will be streamed live on 1win's platform, w.tv, with highlights also made available on YouTube for fans who cannot watch live.
With Team Yandex absent and the play-in qualifiers yet to be finalised, the competitive picture at 1win Essence III will sharpen once the group stage draw and bracket seedings are locked in ahead of the 12 November start.