Tundra Esports rally, stay unbeaten at Riyadh Masters

Tundra Esports earned a 63-minute victory on green against PSG Quest on Saturday to remain unbeaten in the group stage of the Dota 2 Riyadh Masters in Saudi Arabia.

PSG Quest had Tundra on the ropes following a 44-minute win on red, but they couldn't put the top team in Group B away. Tundra Esports won their other match on Saturday, beating beastcoast 2-0.

Topias "Topson" Taavitsainen of Finland led the way in Tundra's draw with PSG, posting averages of 7.5 kills, 5.0 deaths and 13.5 assists.

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.

In other Group B action on Saturday, Team Liquid picked up a pair of 2-0 victories, blanking beastcoast and MOUZ. Entity and WBG.XG each collected a win and a tie. In addition to settling for a draw with Tundra Esports, PSG Quest also played to a 1-1 finish with BetBoom Team.

All eight Group A teams were also in action on Saturday, but no one was able to get the upper hand, with all four matches being 1-1 draws.

Group-stage action concludes on Sunday with eight matches:

Group A

Team Falcons vs. HEROIC

AURORA vs. Gaimin Gladiators

Blacklist International vs. Team Spirit

LGD Gaming vs. OG

Group B

Team Liquid vs. Entity

Tundra Esports vs. BetBoom Team

MOUZ vs. PSG Quest

WBG.XG vs. beastcoast

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

Group A

T1. Gaimin Gladiators, 2-1-3, 7-5

T1. OG, 1-0-5, 7-5

T1. Team Falcons, 3-1-2, 7-5

T1. Team Spirit, 1-0-5, 7-5

5. Aurora, 1-1-4, 6-6

T6. HEROIC, 1-3-2, 5-7

T6. LGD Gaming, 0-1-5, 5-7

8. Blacklist International, 0-2-4, 4-8

Group B

1. Tundra Esports, 4-0-2, 10-2

T2. Entity, 4-1-1, 9-3

T2. Team Liquid, 3-0-3, 9-3

4. WBG.XG, 2-1-3, 7-5

5. PSG Quest, 0-1-5, 5-7

6. BetBoom Team, 1-3-2, 4-8

7. beastcoast, 1-4-1, 3-9

8. MOUZ, 0-5-1, 1-11

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