joinDOTA League Calibration Phase explained

The „Calibration Phase” is a series of matches played before the main season of the League begins. Playing the Calibration Phase is completely optional.

If you feel your team should be placed in a higher division, the Calibration Phase is the way to go. It gives your team the ability to instantly get a better division placement for the upcoming main season, up to Division 2. The better your performance in the Calibration Phase, the higher your seed in the upcoming main season.

The captain or leader of your team can sign up for both the Calibration Phase and the main season at the same time. If you choose not to, you will have the option to change your mind at any time and sign up until before the Calibration Phase starts.

Who can play the Calibration Phase?

New teams:

If you’re playing in the joinDOTA League for the first time, you will be seeded into the lowest division. Since every new team is placed in this division (in addition to the teams that qualified for it as a result of the previous season), the individual skill levels have a high variance. This leads to newly formed teams that are playing competitive Dota for the first time being stomped by more experienced teams, and more seasoned teams not getting the challenge they desired.

To guarantee that every new team, experienced or not, can enjoy jDL, seasoned teams get the opportunity to skip to a more appropriate division right from the start by playing the Calibration Phase.

Existing teams lower than Division 2:

You can also improve your seeding if you already have a couple of seasons under your belt. For instance, a team currently in Division 5 can play in the Calibration Phase, allowing them the opportunity to be instantly seeded into Division 4.

It is also impossible to get a worse seeding than before, so you will never drop a division by playing in the Calibration Phase.

How is it played?

The Calibration Phase will be played individually for every region of jDL: Europe, America, Asia. It is a 2-day event with both Single Elimination and Best-of-3 matches.

Detailed information on the Calibration Phase’s schedule can be found on the regional League pages and will be announced in our news section.