Liquid, Gaimin Gladiators advance at Riyadh Masters

Team Liquid and Gaimin Gladiators advanced to the upper-bracket final with 2-1 wins Thursday at the $5 million Dota 2 Riyadh Masters in Saudi Arabia.

Liquid defeated Tundra Esports and Gaimin Gladiators beat Team Falcons in the upper-bracket semifinals.

Also Thursday, PSG Quest eliminated OG from the event with a 2-1 victory in a lower-bracket Round 1 match.

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.

Falcons opened with a 33-minute victory on red before Gaimin Gladiators answered with back-to-back 29-minute wins on green.

Liquid sandwiched 35- and 39-minute wins on green around Tundra Esports' 41-minute victory, also on green.

After OG opened with a 26-miinute win on green, PSG Quest stayed alive with a 33-minute win on green and clinched the match with a 35-minute victory on red.

The tournament continues Friday with three matches:

--WBG.XG vs. BetBoom Team (lower-bracket Round 2)

--Team Spirit vs. PSG Quest (lower-bracket Round 2)

--Tundra Esports vs. TBD (lower-bracket quarterfinals)

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 -- Aurora, Entity, LGD Gaming, OG

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