While Group A has seen plenty of twists and turns so far at the Dota 2 Riyadh Masters in Saudi Arabia, both Entity and Tundra Esports leveraged Day 1 victories into more wins on Thursday, and the two squads have taken the lead in Group B.
Tundra, now in first place, handed Entity its first loss of the competition, winning 2-0 in 40 minutes on red and 53 minutes on green. Ivan “Pure” Moskalenko of Russia racked up averages of 12.5 kills, 1.5 deaths and 9.0 assists in the showdown, while Entity was paced by Volodymyr “No(o)ne” Minenko of Ukraine, who had a KDA average of 9.5-5.5-12.5.
Entity rallied to defeat beastcoast 2-0, winning in 28 minutes on green and in 31 minutes on green. No(o)ne again paved Entity with 9.5 kills, 2.5 deaths and 11.5 assists.
After downing Entity, Tundra suffered its first blemish, a tie, against Team Liquid, dropping one in 37 minutes while playing on green before rallying to win in 36 minutes on green. Topias “Topson” Taavitsainen of Finland led Tundra with 9.5 kills, 6.0 deaths and 8.5 assists. Michal “Nisha” Jankowski of Poland averaged 8 kills, 4 deaths and 10 assists for Liquid.
Elsewhere in Group B, Liquid tied PSG Quest, WBG.XG dumped BetBoomTeam 2-0, beastcoast defeated MOUZ 2-0, WBG.XG and PSG Quest tied, and MOUZ and BetBoom tied.
Meanwhile, previously winless Team Falcons and OG each won their matches in Group A, throwing those standings into further chaos. No team there has more than a single overall win, and no team is better than 4-2 on maps.
Gaimin Gladiators tied Team Spirit and LGD Gaming tied Blacklist International.
The $5 million Dota 2 event, part of the Esports World Cup, began with 20 teams, with four eliminated prior to the start of group play.
The group stage runs through Sunday, with all matches best-of-two. Teams are competing in two round-robin groups of eight. The top four teams in each group move on to the playoffs’ upper bracket, with the fifth- and sixth-place teams in each group entering the playoffs’ lower bracket.
The double-elimination playoffs run Tuesday through July 21. All playoff matches are best-of-three until the best-of-five grand final.
The winning team will earn $1.5 million and 1,000 Esports World Cup team points, while the runner-up will receive $800,000 and 600 Esports World Cup team points.
Group A will resume with each team playing two matches on Friday. Group B teams will play one apiece.
Dota 2 Riyadh Masters standings (place, team, overall W-L-T record, maps record)
Group A
1. OG, 1-2-0, 4-2
1. Team Spirit, 1-2-0, 4-2
3. Blacklist International, 0-3-0, 3-3
3. Gaimin Gladiators, 1-1-1, 3-3
3. HEROIC, 1-1-1, 3-3
3. LGD Gaming, 0-3-0, 3-3
7. Aurora, 0-2-1, 2-4
7. Team Falcons, 1-0-2, 2-4
Group B
1. Tundra Esports, 2-1-0, 5-1
2. Entity, 2-0-1, 4-2
2. WBG.XG, 1-2-0, 4-2
4. BetBoom Team, 1-1-1, 3-3
4. Team Liquid, 0-3-0, 3-3
6. beastcoast, 1-0-2, 2-4
6. PSG Quest, 0-2-1, 2-4
6. MOUZ, 0-1-2, 1-5
Dota 2 Riyadh Masters prize pool (money, Esports World Cup team points):
1. $1.5 million, 1,000 points
2. $800,000, 600
3. $600,000, 350
4. $400,000, 200
5-6. $300,000, 90
7-8. $200,000, 30
9-12. $100,000
13-14. $70,000
15-16. $40,000
17-18. $25,000 — Virtus.pro, nouns
19-20. $15,000 — G2 x ig, Azure Ray
–Field Level Media
