Day 1 of the group stage of the Dota PGL Wallachia Season 3 on Saturday was noteworthy more for its blowouts than its competitiveness.
Playing in Bucharest, 16 teams opened play with eight best-of-three matches. Only one of the matches went to a third map.
The $1 million Defense of the Ancients tournament began Saturday and runs through March 16. Using the modified Swiss system of play, the group stage consists of five rounds before the top eight teams advance to the playoffs.
All group stage matches are best-of-three and the playoffs are double elimination. All playoff matches are best-of-three except for the grand final, which is best-of-five.
Saturday began with a pair of sweeps:
Team Liquid beat Natus Vincere (42 minutes on green, 41 minutes on red), and Xtreme Gaming beat Mosquito Clan (37 and 35 minutes, both on green).
Aurora Gaming then pulled off a reverse sweep, losing to Wildcard in 23 minutes while on green before winning in 34 minutes on red and 34 minutes on green.
The remaining five matches returned to sweeps:
–Gamin Gladiators def. Yellow Submarine (23 minutes on red, 24 minutes on green).
–Team Falcons def. Nigma Galaxy (34 minutes and 56 minutes, both on red).
–Team Tidebound def. HEROIC (36 minutes on green, 53 minutes on red).
–Team Spirit def. OG (28 minutes and 23 minutes, both on green).
–Tundra Esports def. AVULUS (43 minutes on red, 27 minutes on green).
Sunday’s matches
1-0 teams
–Team Falcons vs. Xtreme Gaming
–Team Liquid vs. Aurora Gaming
–Tundra Esports vs. Team Tidebound
–Team Spirit vs. Gamin Gladiators
0-1 teams
–HEORIC vs. Yellow Submarine
–Nigma Galaxy vs. Natus Vincere
–AVULUS vs. Mosquito Clan
–OG vs. Wildcard
PGL Wallachia Season 3 — group stage standings
T1. Tundra Esports (1-0)
T1. Team Spirit (1-0)
T1. Team Falcons (1-0)
T1. Team Liquid (1-0)
T1. Aurora Gaming (1-0)
T1. Xtreme Gaming (1-0)
T1. Gaimin Gladiators (1-0)
T1. Team Tidebound (1-0)
T9. HEROIC (0-1)
T9. AVULUS (0-1)
T9. OG (0-1)
T9. Nigma Galaxy (0-1)
T9. Natus Vincere (0-1)
T9. Wildcard (0-1)
T9. Mosquito Clan (0-1)
T9. Yellow Submarine (0-1)
PGL Wallachia Season 3 prize pool
1. $300,000
2. $175,000
3. $120,000
4. $80,000
5-6. $60,000
7-8. $40,000
9-11. $20,000
12-14. $15,000
15-16. $10,000
–Field Level Media
