Falcons, Gladiators, Liquid, Tundra open Riyadh playoffs with wins

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