After a two year break, The Defense will be returning for a fifth season and a $75,000 prize pool. The Defense is one of the oldest Dota 2 tournaments and will be starting tomorrow. None of the participating teams have been revealed as of yet, but the competition will see 18 teams playing each other online for the prize pool.
The Defense is the oldest Dota 2 tournament, having been set in 2011. The tournament is run by joinDota, and they will provide the English coverage for the event, although it will also be streamed in various other languages on Twitch.
The Defense will be split into four stages. Stage one and two are double group round robins and stage three and four are the playoffs. Twelve teams will be split into two groups for stage one, the top three of each group will proceed to stage two. In stage two, the six teams from stage one and six directly invited teams will be split into two groups; it is assumed that the top three of each group will proceed to the playoffs. The details of stage three and four have not been released yet.