DreamLeague 26 playoff chase goes down to last day

Aurora Gaming and Gaimin Gladiators registered crucial wins on Wednesday as they battle for playoff berths at DreamLeague Season 26.

After Aurora Gaming swept Yakult Brothers 2-0 in Group Stage 2, Gaimin Gladiators rallied past Team Liquid 2-1. The winners both improved their records to 3-3, tied for the fourth and final playoff position entering the last day of round-robin play.

The $1 million Dota 2 tournament began with 16 teams divided into two groups of eight in Group Stage 1. The top four teams from each group advanced out of the opening phase.

Group Stage 2 consists of a single round-robin of best-of-three matches. Four teams then will compete in a double-elimination playoff bracket, featuring best-of-three matches until the best-of-five grand final on Sunday.

The first-place team will pocket $250,000 plus a $40,000 club reward. There also will be 29,200 ESL Pro Tour points distributed among the teams participating.

On Wednesday, Aurora Gaming topped Yakult Brothers in 39 minutes on red and in 46 minutes on green. Russia's Egor "Nightfall" Grigorenko led Aurora with an average 11.0/1.5/6.5 kill-death-assist ratio. China's Jin "flyfly" Zhiyi finished at 6.5/3.0/4.5 for Yakult.

Team Liquid opened with a 28-minute victory on green, but Gaimin Gladiators came back to earn 29-minute and 32-minute wins, both on green. The United States' Quinn "Quinn" Callahan paced Gaimin Gladiators with an 11.3/2.3/9.0 K-D-A ratio. Ukraine's Alik "V-Tune" Vorobey logged a 5.3/2.0/6.3 K-D-A ratio for Team Liquid.

First-place PARIVISION remained undefeated by topping Nigma Galaxy 2-0, winning in 29 minutes on green and 37 minutes on red. Ukraine's Volodymyr "No[o]ne-" Minenko amassed a 9.5/1.5/13.0 K-D-A ratio for PARIVISION. Lebanon's Tony "No!ob" Assaf wound up at 5.5/5.5/3.0 for Nigma Galaxy.

Talon Esports beat BetBoom Team 2-1, leaving both teams tied for second at 4-2. After Talon produced a 41-minute win on red, BetBoom Team equalized in 36 minutes on green. Talon took the epic final map in 71 minutes on red. Indonesia's Rafli "Mikoto" Fathur Rahman topped Talon at 5.0/3.7/8.7. Russia's Ilya "Kiritych" Ulyanov put up a 6.3/1.7/8.3 K-D-A ratio for BetBoom Team.

Group Stage 2 concludes Thursday with four matches:

--Team Liquid vs. Talon Esports

--BetBoom Team vs. Yakult Brothers

--Aurora Gaming vs. Nigma Galaxy

--PARIVISION vs. Gaimin Gladiators

DreamLeague Season 26 final Group Stage 2 standings (win-loss, map record)

1. PARIVISION, 6-0, 12-2

T2. BetBoom Team, 4-2, 9-6

T2. Talon Esports, 4-2, 10-7

T4. Aurora Gaming, 3-3, 8-8

T4. Gaimin Gladiators, 3-3, 7-9

6. Yakult Brothers, 2-4, 6-8

T7. Nigma Galaxy, 1-5, 5-11

T7. Team Liquid, 1-5, 5-11

DreamLeague Season 26 prize pool, with winnings and club reward

1. $250,000, $40,000

2. $100,000, $30,000

3. $80,000, $25,000

4. $60,000, $20,000

5. $45,000, $15,000

6. $35,000, $15,000

7. $30,000, $12,500

8. $25,000, $12,500

9-10. $20,000, $10,000 -- Shopify Rebellion, Team Falcons

11-12. $17,500, $10,000 -- Xtreme Gaming, NAVI Junior

13-14. $15,000, $10,000 -- BOOM Esports, AVULUS

15-16. $10,000, $10,000 -- OG.LATAM, Edge

--Field Level Media