Valve has revealed details for the first ever season of Fantasy Dota. As the name implies, it's a bit like Fantasy Football where you and up to nine friends can form teams made up of pro players to compete against each other. You earn points based on how well your fantasy team performs during tournament matches.

Once you or one of your friends create a Fantasy League, simply join up and then create a Fantasy Team through a live draft. This draft will take place at the same time with the others in the league. Wins and losses are calculated based on total points as friends go head to head each week.

The Fantasy Dota Season 1 begins on May 19 and runs through July 28.
For those that played in the in the Dreamleague Fantasy League, there are a few changes for Fantasy Season 1:

Because it's more interesting when your players are playing frequently, all matches played in any tournament now count toward your players’ scores. Matches start scoring points on May 19th, but you can create and join Fantasy Leagues now, as well as complete your Live Drafts.

Now that we support a number of tournaments that are all running at the same time, there are a lot more pro players to select from. This allows us to support Fantasy Leagues with up to 10 members.

Creating a new Fantasy League, or joining one that a friend has already created, is now based on Fantasy Ticket items rather than purchasing a ticket to a specific tournament. Purchasing an International Compendium includes a Fantasy Ticket. The process of joining a Fantasy League has been streamlined as well -- now you just need the Fantasy League ID and its password and you'll be able to join.

We're opening a Fantasy-specific dev forum so you can discuss strategy, report bugs, and suggest features for upcoming Fantasy Seasons.

Valve has set up a comprehensive FAQ page for the first season of Fantasy Dota. It includes information on scoring, the draft, and much more.