Six DOTA squads grab early advantage at Esports World Cup 2026

GamerLegion, Aurora Gaming, Nigma Galaxy, PVISION, Vici Gaming and 1w each pulled out 2-0 victories Tuesday on the first day of group stage play at the Dota 2 Esports World Cup 2026 in Paris.

Those results offered some early clarity, with at least one team in each group earning a victory, and two teams in both Groups B and C starting strong, with four more days of group play remaining.

Twelve other teams split their Day 1 matches, leaving a lot of room for movement in the standings as the tournament progresses.

The Esports World Cup 2026 is the final championship of the ESL Pro Tour, now in its fourth season. Announced in 2024 and previously known as the Riyadh Masters, the Esports World Cup has a $2 million prize pool, with $750,000 and 1,000 club points going to the first-place team.

The format consists of three phases: a group stage (July 7-12) of four groups of six teams competing in a round robin, a survival phase (July 14-15) formatted into a single-elimination bracket that will see four teams advance, then a final playoff stage (July 16-19), which is single elimination.

All matches in Phase 1 are two games, while the matches in Phases 2 and 3 are best-of-three until the best-of-five grand final.

On Tuesday, GamerLegion downed Poor Rangers in 32 minutes and 47 minutes, playing both on red for the only win in Group A. In Group B, Nigma Galaxy handled L1 TEAM in 37 minutes twice, first on green, then on red. Aurora Gaming swept Level UP in 36 minutes on green and 22 minutes on red.

In Group C, Vici Gaming earned a 42-minute win on red followed by a 53-minute victory on green to defeat REKONIX, while PVISION topped Team Nemesis in 41 minutes and 26 minutes on red and green, respectively. Over in Group D, 1w were the lone winners, defeating IC x Insanity in 32 minutes on red and 53 minutes on green.

Two Group A matches ended in draws. BB Team beat Team Falcons in 44 minutes playing on red before Falcons rallied to win in 40 minutes on red. Rune Eaters opened against Xtreme Gaming with a 47-minute victory playing on green, but Xtreme rebounded to win in 57 minutes on green.

Team Liquid gained the early advantage against PTime in Group B, winning in 39 minutes on red, with PTime taking the second game in 35 minutes playing on green. In Group C, Team Spirit won a marathon 70-minute match over MOUZ on red, before MOUZ bounced back with a 53-minute win on red.

Finally, in Group D, Team Yandex took down OG in 26 minutes on red, with OG rallying to win in 55 minutes on red in the rematch, while Virtus.pro earned a win in 77 minutes against LGD Gaming on red before LGD took the second match in 62 minutes on green.

The group stage continues Wednesday with 12 matches:

--GamerLegion vs. Xtreme Gaming (Group A)

--Poor Rangers vs. BB Team (Group A)

--Team Falcons vs. Rune Eaters (Group A)

--Nigma Galaxy vs. Aurora Gaming (Group B)

--L1 TEAM vs. PTime (Group B)

--Team Liquid vs. Level UP (Group B)

--Vici Gaming vs. PVISION (Group C)

--REKONIX vs. MOUZ (Group C)

--Team Spirit vs. Team Nemesis (Group C)

--Virtus.pro vs. 1w (Group D)

--LGD Gaming vs. OG (Group D)

--Team Yandex vs. IC x Insanity (Group D)

Esports World Cup 2026 Standings (match record W-T-L, map record)

Group A

1. GamerLegion, 1-0-0 (2-0)

T2. BB Team, 0-1-0 (1-1)

T2. Rune Eaters, 0-1-0 (1-1)

T2. Team Falcons, 0-1-0 (1-1)

T2. Xtreme Gaming, 0-1-0 (1-1)

6. Poor Rangers, 0-0-1, (0-2)

Group B

T1. Aurora Gaming, 1-0-0 (2-0)

T1. Nigma Galaxy, 1-0-0 (2-0)

T3. PTime, 0-1-0 (1-1)

T3. Team Liquid, 0-1-0 (1-1)

T5. L1 TEAM, 0-0-1 (0-2)

T5. Level UP, 0-0-1 (0-2)

Group C

T1. PVISION, 1-0-0 (2-0)

T1. Vici Gaming, 1-0-0 (2-0)

T3. MOUZ, 0-1-0 (1-1)

T3. Team Spirit, 0-1-0 (1-1)

T5. REKONIX, 0-0-1 (0-2)

T5. Team Nemesis, 0-0-1 (0-2)

Group D

1. 1w, 1-0-0 (2-0)

T2. LGD Gaming, 0-1-0 (1-1)

T2. OG, 0-1-0 (1-1)

T2. Team Yandex, 0-1-0 (1-1)

T2. Virtus.pro, 0-1-0 (1-1)

T6. IC x Insanity, 0-0-1 (0-2)

--Field Level Media