Unbeaten Team Falcons take top spot in Group A

Team Falcons downed Team Spirit 2-1 on Saturday in a battle for first place in Group A at the DreamLeague Season 29 event.

Now the only unbeaten team, Team Falcons is 6-0 going into the final day of the group stage as Team Spirit fell to 5-1.

Stanislav "Malr1ne" Potorak of Russia led Team Falcons with a 27-14-46 kill-death-assist ratio. Denis "Larl" Sigitov of Russia paced Team Spirit with a 27-12-36 K-D-A.

GamerLegion (1-5) notched their first win in Group A by downing Virtus.pro 2-1.

In Group B, Natus Vincere and PARIVISION are atop the standings at 5-1. PARIVISION went 1-1 on Saturday, sweeping Nigma Galaxy 2-0 and falling to PlayTime 2-1. Natus Vincere went 2-0 on the day, sweeping PlayTime and edging Tundra Esports 2-1.

Artem "Niku" Bachkur led Natus Vincere in the sweep of PlayTime with a 21-3-32 K-D-A ratio, while teammate and fellow Ukrainian Taras "gotthejuice" Linnikov contributed a 17-8-29 K-D-A in the win over Tundra Esports.

The $1 million Dota 2 event is beginning with the 16 teams divided into two groups for round-robin play. The top four teams in each group earn spots in the upper bracket for the double-elimination playoffs, while the fifth- and sixth-place teams will start the playoffs in the lower bracket.

All matches through the event are best-of-three until the final on May 24, which will be best-of-five. The championship team will receive $250,000 in player prize money, a club bonus of $40,000 and a minimum of 6,000 ESL Pro Tour points.

On Saturday in Group A, Team Spirit opened with a win in 43 minutes on green before Team Falcons rallied with victories in 65 minutes on green and 45 minutes on red.

Team Liquid swept ex-HEROIC in 44 minutes on red and 24 minutes on green.

Aurora Gaming opened with a 44-minute win on green before Vici Gaming drew even with a 32-minute victory on green. Aurora closed it out with a marathon 69-minute win on red.

GamerLegion bounced back from an opening loss in 41 minutes to Virtus.pro, which was on red, to win in 28 minutes and 35 minutes, both on red.

In Group B, Tundra Esports started with a 51-minute win on green before BetBoom Team drew level with a 37-minute win on green. Tundra had green for the third map and won in 49 minutes to take the match.

PARIVISION swept Nigma Galaxy in 31 minutes on red and 35 minutes on green.

Natus Vincere dispatched PlayTime 2-0, winning in 31 minutes on red and 43 minutes on green.

Xtreme Gaming swept REKONIX in 36 minutes on green and 33 minutes on red.

BetBoom Team followed suit against Xtreme Gaming, winning in 70 minutes on green and 36 minutes on red.

Natus Vincere outbattled Tundra Esports 2-1. Natus Vincere opened with a 44-minute victory on green, then Tundra won in 43 minutes on green. Natus Vincere took the match with a 53-minute win on red.

PlayTime opened with a 50-minute win on red in taking down PARIVISION 2-1. After PARIVISION responded with a 30-minute victory on red, PlayTime won in 41-minutes on green.

Nigma Galaxy swept REKONIX, winning in 45 minutes on red and 42 minutes on green.

The Sunday schedule:

Group A

--Team Spirit vs. ex-HEROIC

--Team Falcons vs. GamerLegion

--Team Liquid vs. Vici Gaming

--AuroraGaming vs. Virtus.pro

Group B

--Xtreme Gaming vs. Natus Vincere

--BetBoom Team vs. Nigma Galaxy

--Tundra Esports vs. PlayTime

--PARIVISION vs. REKONIX

DreamLeague Season 29 group standings, with match record and map record

Group A

1. Team Falcons, 6-0, 12-2

2. Team Spirit, 5-1, 11-3

3. Team Liquid, 5-2, 9-5

4. Aurora Gaming, 3-3, 7-7

T5. Vici Gaming, 2-4, 5-8

T5. Virtus.pro, 2-4, 6-8

7. ex-HEROIC, 1-5, 2-10

8. GamerLegion, 1-5, 2-11

Group B

T1. Natus Vincere, 5-1, 10-4

T1. PARIVISION, 5-1, 11-5

T3. BetBoom Team, 3-3, 8-7

T3. PlayTime, 3-3, 7-7

T3. Xtreme Gaming, 3-3, 7-6

T6. Nigma Galaxy, 2-4, 5-8

T6. Tundra Esports, 2-4, 6-10

8. REKONIX, 1-5, 3-10

DreamLeague Season 29 prize pool, with player prize money, club bonus money and base ESL Pro Tour points

1. $250,000, $40,000, 6,000 points

2. $100,000, $30,000, 5,000 points

3. $80,000, $25,000, 4,000 points

4. $60,000, $20,000, 3,200 points

5-6. $40,000, $15,000, 2,200 points

7-8. $27,500, $12,500, 1,000 points

9-12. $20,000, $10,000, 375 points

13-14. $12,500, $10,000, 140 points

15-16. $10,000, $10,000, 60 points

--Field Level Media