Everything You Need to Know Before Buying Kiev Major Tickets

The Kiev Major dates have been announced, and Valve along with PGL will be hosting it in the National Palace of Arts in Kiev.

Dates

Open Qualifiers (Online): March 6th – March 9th, 2017

Main Qualifiers (Online): March 10th – March 13th, 2017

Group Stage – Not announced

Main Event in Kiev – April 27th – April 30th, 2017

Teams are seeded into a single-elimination bracket.
All games are best-of-three, with best-of-five grand finals.

Tickets Prices (are Really Low)

Individual daily passes for each day of the Kiev Major is ₴130 (Ukraine Hryvnia), which is 3,47€ or around $5 USD

The Grand Finals’ day pass is a separate ₴400 = 13,86€ or around $15

When and How to Buy Kiev Major Tickets

The most important thing is to know when to buy the tickets for Kiev. Tickets will go on sale and will be out of stock within minutes, if not seconds. The Kiev Major tickets go on sale on February 22 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern European Time. Valve themselves have helpfully recommended a Time Zone Converter to know when to sit on your computer and press F5.

The Kiev Major tickets will be sold on Karabas, a Ukranian online service. Create a Karabas account and log in beforehand to check out smoothly.

What to Know About the National Palace of Arts

Situated on Chervonoarmiyska Street, it’s to the Palats Ukraina Metro Station.
Capacity of 3,714 in the main hall
The (probably invited) OG Dota 2 squad will join the likes of Luciano Pavarotti and Christina Aguilera in performing on stage at the National Palace of Arts.
It looks like this:

Dota 2 Teams Likely to be Invited

Pretty likely:

OG
EG
Ad Finem

Sort of likely:

Wings
DC
Newbee
Liquid

Sightseeing in Kiev

St. Sophia’s Cathedral: a pretty looking 11th century Orthodox Cathedral
Kiev Pechersk Lavra: a monastic complex with iconic catacombs.
Chernobyl Museum: a museum about Chernobyl.

But most of you will be here to get your autograph from Dendi!

Exchange Rate

Average exchange rate is
1 USD to 28 UAH (Ukrainian Hryvnias)
1 EUR to 29 UAH

Safety in Kiev

Kyiv is a capital. We have a police patrol and they keep city safe enough. Of course, as in any other city there are more and there are less safe regions. Basically, the closer you to the city center, the safer it is. Just don’t go into dark streets late at night and you will be fine 😀

Places to Stay

Due to its proximity to Palats “Ukrayina” metro station, any place near any metro station would be good in Kiev would work.

Stay on the blue line metro if possible.
Try to stay on the West side of the city (West of the river)

Places to Eat

There are a lot of fast food places around the National Palace of Arts in Kiev. The “Eurasia” sushi bar comes recommended. Most of your regular American delicacies like McDonalds and Domino’s are found across the city. A regular pizza would cost between $3-4.

Taxis or Ubers

There are two choices in Kiev, Uber and a local version called Uklon. Uber is usually better because it’s easier to use and you don’t have to pay cash. Taxis are pretty cheap compared to the rest of Europe. Booking an Uber from the Airport to the city centre will cost around $15 USD and will give you a good view of the city.

Public Transport

Like most things in Ukraine, public transport is pretty cheap. For half a dollar you can ride around most places in the city. Metro costs the same price. Some disadvantages are the lack of cleanliness and confusion with timings. Use Google Maps to find routes in Public Transport. Late night (after 11pm) has only taxis and Ubers.

General Questions

Do people in Ukraine speak English?

Most of the population doesn’t speak English but the people you encounter (hotel staff, restaurants) in the city will speak it. Public transport is mostly in Ukranian.

Should I use cash or credit card?

Most places accept credit card, so there’s no need to use cash. It’s recommended to take an Uber over regular taxis, so going semi-cashless should be fine.

Internet access?

You can buy a prepaid SIM card for a few dollars with 3G internet as soon as you land in Kiev. That should keep you going for atleast a few days if not a month.