Blacklist International, Entity and HEROIC each picked up two wins Friday to ensure they will advance past the play-in stage at the Riyadh Masters in Saudi Arabia.
Blacklist International improved their Group A-leading record to three wins and one tie, while Entity is right behind with two wins and two draws. HEROIC leads Group B with three wins and a tie, and PSG Quest also guaranteed their spot in the next stage by taking over second place in the group with one day remaining.
The $5 million Dota 2 event, part of the Esports World Cup, features 20 teams. Team Falcons, BetBoom Team, Gaimin Gladiators, WBG.XG, Tundra Esports, Team Liquid, OG and Team Spirit received automatic berths into the group stage. The 12 other teams are divided into two round-robin groups as they battle for eight more group-stage spots.
Play-in matches are best-of-two, and the top three teams from each group advance. The third- and fourth-place teams from each group will face a third- or fourth-place team from the other group for the final two slots.
The group stage runs Wednesday through July 14, with all matches best-of-two. Teams will compete 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 July 16-21. All 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.
On Friday, Blacklist destroyed LGD Gaming in 19 minutes on red before clinching the result in 50 minutes on green. They followed that up by beating Virtus.pro in 30 minutes on red and 29 minutes on green.
Meanwhile, Entity swept beastcoast and LGD. They won in 39 minutes on red and 33 minutes on green against beastcoast, then scored wins in 44 minutes and 33 minutes on red against LGD.
In Group B, HEROIC took down nouns in 43 minutes on red and 46 minutes on green before sweeping Azure Ray in 39 minutes on red and 37 minutes on green.
PSG Quest had a straightforward win over Aurora, prevailing twice in 42 minutes on red, before rallying to tie nouns. After nouns won in 40 minutes on green, PSG Quest answered with a 36-minute win on red.
The play-in stage concludes Saturday with six matches:
–G2 x ig vs. LGD Gaming (Group A)
–Blacklist International vs. Entity (Group A)
–beastcoast vs. Virtus.pro (Group A)
–Aurora vs. HEROIC (Group B)
–MOUZ vs. PSG Quest (Group B)
–nouns vs. Azure Ray (Group B)
Play-in stage standings (match record W-T-D, map record)
Group A
1. Blacklist International, 3-1-0, 7-1
2. Entity, 2-2-0, 6-2
3. beastcoast, 1-2-1, 4-4
4. Virtus.pro, 0-3-1, 3-5
T5. G2 x ig, 0-2-2, 2-6
T5. LGD Gaming, 0-2-2, 2-6
Group B
1. HEROIC, 3-1-0, 7-1
2. PSG Quest, 2-2-0, 6-2
3. Aurora, 2-1-1, 5-3
T4. MOUZ, 1-1-2, 3-5
T4. Nouns, 0-3-1, 3-5
6. Azure Ray, 0-0-4, 0-8
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
19-20. $15,000
–Field Level Media
