Team Liquid, Falcons start fast in Group Stage 2 of DreamLeague Season 28

Team Liquid, Aurora Gaming and Team Falcons swept to victories on Saturday, the first day of Group Stage 2 at DreamLeague Season 28.

Tundra Esports also triumphed, by a 2-1 margin, in the first of seven consecutive days of the group stage.

The $1 million Dota 2 event featured 16 teams, starting in a round-robin stage split into two groups of eight teams. All series consisted of two games, and the top four teams from each group advanced to Group Stage 2, a single round robin featuring best-of-three matches from Feb. 21-27.

From there, four teams will compete in a double-elimination playoff bracket Feb. 28-March 1 with best-of-three matches until the grand final, which will be best-of-five.

The championship team will receive $250,000 in prize money and a $40,000 club reward. The runner-up side will get $100,000 and a $30,000 club reward.

On Saturday, Team Liquid downed Xtreme Gaming in 34 minutes and 25 minutes, both on red. Michael "miCKe" Vu of Sweden paced Team Liquid with a 12.5-1.5-5.5 average kills-deaths-assists differential.

Aurora Gaming blanked PARIVISION in 42 minutes on green and 45 minutes on red. Russian Egor "Nightfall" Grigorenko posted an average KDA of 13-2.5-11 for Aurora and teammate Chung "Ws" Wei Shen of Malaysia had a 9.1-2.5-16 differential.

Team Falcons got past BetBom Team in 30 minutes and 50 minutes, both on red. Stanislav "Malr1ne" Potorak of Russia led the Falcons with an average KDA of 12-4.5-11.5.

Tundra Esports won a battle with MOUZ, taking the opener in 30 minutes on red, falling in 41 minutes on green and winning in 27 minutes on red. Russian Ivan "Pure" Moskalenko averaged a KDA of 11-5-17.5 and Bozhidar "bzm" Bogdanov of Bulgaria averaged a differential of 11-3-21 for Tundra.

Sunday's matches

--Xtreme Gaming vs. MOUZ

--Tundra Esports vs. PARIVISION

--BetBoom Team vs. Team Liquid

--Aurora Gaming vs. Team Falcons

Monday's matches

--MOUZ vs. BetBoom Team

--PARIVISION vs. Xtreme Gaming

--Aurora Gaming vs. Tundra Esports

--Team Liquid vs. Team Falcons

Group Stage 2 standings

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

T1. Team Falcons, 1-0, 2-0

T1. Team Liquid, 1-0, 2-0

T1. Tundra Esports, 1-0, 2-1

T5. BetBoom Team, 0-1, 0-2

T5. MOUZ, 0-1, 1-2

T5. PARIVISION, 0-1, 0-2

T5. Xtreme Gaming, 0-1, 0-2

Dream League Season 28 prize pool, with prize money and club reward

1. $250,000, $40,000

2. $125,000, $30,000

3. $80,000, $25,000

4. $60,000, $20,000

5. $45,000, $15,000

6. $35,000, $15,000

7. $30,000, $12,500

8. $25,000, $12,500

9-10. $20,000, $10,000 -- OG, Natus Vincere

11-12. $17,500, $10,000 -- Team Yandex, Team Spirit

13-14. $15,000, $10,000 -- paiN Gaming, GamerLegion

15-16. $10,000, $10,000 -- Yakult Brothers, Execration

--Field Level Media