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

Field Level Media|published: Tue 16th July, 19:32 2024

A backlit keyboard is part of the gear online video game streamer Jordan Woodruff uses in his Gilbert home. Jordan Woodruff

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