Entity earned its second win on Saturday to tie for the lead in Group A, while Aurora added to its advantage in Group B with a pair of ties on the second day of the Round Robin Stage of the Dota 2 Elite League.
A 2-0 victory against Team Spirit gave Entity its second win in as many matches. Playing on green, Entity won in 56 minutes before winning again playing on red, this time in 54 minutes.
It was an exhibition in team play, with the winning side racking up 195 assists in the victory. Alimzhan “watson” Islanbekov of Kazakhstan paced Entity with averages of 12 kills and added 16.5 assists.
Aurora had taken the lead in Group B on Friday with a win and a tie, and the squad split its games Saturday to maintain its early lead. Aurora lost to Gaimin Gladiators playing on red in 50 minutes and won on green in 65 minutes. Anton “DyrachYO” Shkredov of Russia had a balanced stat sheet with 5 kills, 4 deaths and 10.5 assists for Gaimin.
Aurora lost their opener again vs. Team Liquid, losing in 37 minutes playing on red. But again, they rallied, winning on red in 42 minutes. Anucha “Jabz” Jirawong of Thailand led the way with averages of 7 kills and 8.5 assists.
Elsewhere in Group A, Azure Ray, which hadn’t competed on Day 1, defeated PSG Quest 2-0 and tied G2 x iG (the other first-place team) 1-1 to surge into a tie for third place with Team Falcons, who tied Team Spirit 1-1. In the other game, PSG Quest defeated HEROIC 2-0.
Tundra Esports moved into a tie for second place in Group B (with Team Liquid and Gaimin Gladiators) by tying Blacklist International 1-1. In other action, BOOM Esports tied Xtreme Gaming 1-1 and BetBoom Team tied Xtreme 1-1.
Sixteen teams began the Elite League’s Swiss Stage (Group Stage 1), using a modified Swiss system. Nine came from closed qualifier seeds, and seven others were invited. All matches were best-of-three.
The top eight teams moved on to the Round Robin Stage (Group Stage 2), joining eight other teams that were seeded by invitation. That stage runs through Wednesday, with two single round-robin groups of eight teams apiece. Those matches are also best-of-three.
The top two teams from each group will advance to the upper bracket of the playoffs, while the third- and fourth-place teams will go to the lower bracket. The playoffs begin April 12, and matches stay best-of-three until a best-of-five grand final.
The winner takes home $300,000 from the $960,000 prize pool.
The Round Robin Stage continues Sunday with 10 matches:
–HEROIC vs. Falcons (Group A)
–Entity vs. PSG Quest (Group A)
–Team Spirit vs. G2.ig (Group A)
–Azure Ray vs. Falcons (Group A)
–OG vs. PSG Quest (Group A)
–BOOM Esports vs. Blacklist International (Group B)
–Xtreme Gaming vs. Tundra Esports (Group B)
–Team Liquid vs. Gaimin Gladiators (Group B)
–Tundra Esports vs. BetBoom Team (Group B)
–Xtreme Gaming vs. Gaimin Gladiators (Group B)
Elite League Round Robin Stage standings (match, map record)
Group A
T1. Entity, 2-0-0, 4-0
T1. G2.ig, 1-2-0, 4-2
T3. Azure Ray, 1-1-0, 3-1
T3. Team Falcons, 1-1-0, 3-1
T5. HEROIC, 1-0-2, 2-4
T5. PSG Quest, 1-0-2, 2-4
T7. OG, 0-1-1, 1-3
T7. Team Spirit, 0-1-2, 1-5
Group B
1. Aurora, 1-3-0, 5-3
T2. Gaimin Gladiators, 1-1-0, 3-1
T2. Team Liquid, 1-1-0, 3-1
T2. Tundra Esports, 1-1-0, 3-1
T5. BOOM Esports, 0-2-1, 2-4
T5. Xtreme Gaming, 0-2-0, 2-2
T7. BetBoom Team, 0-1-2, 1-5
T7. Blacklist International, 0-1-1, 1-3
Elite League prize pool ($960,000)
1. $300,000
2. $150,000
3. $80,000
4. $50,000
5-6. $40,000
7-8. $30,000
9-10. $20,000
11-12. $20,000
13-14. $20,000
15-16. $20,000
17-19. $10,000 — Talon Esports, Team Secret, Virtus.pro
20-22. $10,000 — KEV, Nigma Galaxy, nouns
23-24. $10,000 — 9Pandas, Rest Farmers
–Field Level Media
