HEROIC, Spirit start fast in Riyadh Masters group stage

Group play at the Dota 2 Riyadh Masters in Saudi Arabia began Wednesday, and with all eight Group A teams playing two matches, nobody in the group ended the day with a perfect record.

HEROIC and Team Spirit had the best days in the group, each winning a match and drawing in the other to finish Wednesday 1-0-1 overall, 3-1 on maps.

The $5 million Dota 2 event, part of the Esports World Cup, began with 20 teams, with four eliminated prior to the start of group play.

The group stage runs through Sunday, with all matches best-of-two. Teams are competing 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 Tuesday through July 21. 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 Wednesday, Spirit and HEROIC opened with victories. Spirit beat Team Falcons, winning in 45 minutes on red and 35 minutes on green. After posting one kill in the first map, Spirit's Myroslav "Mira" Kolpakov of Ukraine collected 10 in the second, while Illya "Yatoro" Mulyarchuk of Ukraine and Denis "Larl" Sigitov of Russia had nine each in the second map. Yatoro led the way with 17 kills in the two maps combined.

HEROIC followed with a 2-0 win over Gaimin Gladiators, winning on red in 35 minutes and green in 38 minutes. Brazil's Joao Gabriel "4nalog" Giannini Santos led the way with 22 kills, including 13 in the first map. Later in the day, Spirit tied with OG 1-1 and HEROIC did the same against LGD Gaming.

In Group B, BetBoom Team, Entity and Tundra Esports all got 2-0 wins as all teams played only one match. Team Liquid and WBG.XG played to a 1-1 tie -- the only Group B match to end in a draw.

The groups will switch on Thursday, with Group A teams playing one match and Group B teams playing two.

Dota 2 Riyadh Masters standings (place, team, overall W-L-T record, maps record)

Group A

1. HEROIC, 1-0-1, 3-1

1. Team Spirit, 1-0-1, 3-1

3. Aurora, 0-0-2, 2-2

3. Blacklist International, 0-0-2, 2-2

3. Gaimin Gladiators, 1-1-0, 2-2

3. LGD Gaming, 0-0-2, 2-2

3. OG, 0-0-2, 2-2

8. Team Falcons, 0-2-0, 0-4

Group B

1. BetBoom Team, 1-0-0, 2-0

1. Entity, 1-0-0, 2-0

1. Tundra Esports, 1-0-0, 2-0

4. Team Liquid, 0-0-1, 1-1

4. WBG.XG, 0-0-1, 1-1

6. beastcoast, 0-1-0, 0-2

6. MOUZ, 0-1-0, 0-2

6. PSG Quest, 0-1-0, 0-2

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 -- Virtus.pro, nouns

19-20. $15,000 -- G2 x ig, Azure Ray

--Field Level Media