Team Falcons, Gaimin Gladiators, Team Liquid and Tundra Esports kicked off the playoff stage with wins Tuesday at the Dota 2 Riyadh Masters in Saudi Arabia.
To get the ball rolling at the final stage of the $5 million tournament, Falcons defeated WBG.XG 2-1, while Gaimin Gladiators swept Entity, Team Liquid blanked Team Spirit and Tundra beat OG, all by 2-0 scores.
The four losing teams dropped into the lower half of the double-elimination bracket.
The Riyadh Masters, part of the Esports World Cup, began with 20 teams, with four eliminated during the play-in stage. The group stage then ran through Sunday, with all matches best-of-two. Teams competed in two round-robin groups of eight.
The playoffs run through Sunday. 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.
On Tuesday, Falcons opened with a 41-minute win on red, absorbed a 31-minute loss to WBG.XG (playing on green) and prevailed in 49 minutes on red in the deciding match. Ammar “ATF” Al-Assaf of Jordan posted a 12-0-10 kills-deaths-assists ratio on the final map to lead Falcons.
Gaimin Gladiators triumphed in 36 minutes and 31 minutes on red to turn back Entity. Russian Anton “dyrachyo” Shkredov averaged 9.0-2.0-7.0 K-D-A for Gladiators.
Liquid defeated Spirit in 29 minutes on red and 32 minutes on green. Michal “Nisha” Jankowski of Poland averaged a 9.5-1.5-15.0 K-D-A for Liquid.
Tundra took down OG in 32 minutes on red and 38 minutes on green. Ivan “Pure” Moskalenko of Russia had a 14.0-4.0-17.0 K-D-A to pace Tundra.
The tournament continues Wednesday with three lower-bracket Round 1 matches:
–WBG.XG vs. Aurora
–Entity vs. BetBoom Team
–Team Spirit vs. LGD Gaming
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 — HEROIC, beastcoast
15-16. $40,000 — Blacklist International, MOUZ
17-18. $25,000 — Virtus.pro, nouns
19-20. $15,000 — G2 x iG, Azure Ray
–Field Level Media
