Liquid, Xtreme reach Dota Elite League’s upper playoff bracket

Team Liquid and Xtreme Gaming clinched upper-bracket playoff berths with victories on Wednesday in the Dota 2 Elite League as the Group B round robin concluded.

Liquid (3-0-4) posted a 2-0 victory over Blacklist International, and Xtreme (2-0-5) swept Aurora (1-1-5) by a 2-0 count.

Gaimin Gladiators (2-1-4) sealed a spot in the playoffs’ lower bracket with a 2-0 victory over Blacklist International (0-5-2), and BetBoom Team (2-2-3) logged a 2-0 win over BOOM Esports (0-2-5) in a matchup of teams that failed to advance.

The scheduled Group A round robin also finished Wednesday, but tiebreaker matches will be needed on Thursday to determine the last upper-bracket qualifier.

Team Falcons (4-1-2), who were idle on Wednesday, are assured of first place. However, Azure Ray (3-2-2), G2 x iG (3-2-2) and PSG Quest (4-3-0) are tied for second place. The latter three teams will play a mini round robin on Thursday to determine which team gets second place.

In Wednesday’s Group A action, Team Spirit (2-4-1) registered a 2-0 win over Azure Ray. HEROIC (1-4-2) played to a 1-1 draw against OG. G2 x iG rolled to a 2-0 victory over Entity (3-4-0), and OG (2-2-3) finished with a 1-1 draw vs. Azure Ray.

Sixteen teams began the Elite League’s Swiss Stage (Group Stage 1), using a modified Swiss system. Nine came from closed qualifier seeds, and seven others were invited. All matches were best-of-three.

The top eight teams moved on to the Round Robin Stage (Group Stage 2), joining eight other teams that were seeded by invitation. That stage runs through Wednesday, with two single round-robin groups of eight teams.

The top two teams from each group will advance to the upper bracket of the playoffs, while the third- and fourth-place teams will go to the lower bracket. The playoffs begin Friday, and matches are best-of-three until a best-of-five grand final.

The winner takes home $300,000 from the $960,000 prize pool.

Elite League Round Robin Stage standings (match W-L-T, map record)
Group A
1. Team Falcons, 4-1-2, 10-4
T2. Azure Ray, 3-2-2, 8-6
T2. G2.iG, 3-2-2, 8-6
T2. PSG Quest, 4-3-0, 8-6
5. OG, 2-2-3, 7-7
6. Entity, 3-4-0, 6-8
7. Team Spirit, 2-4-1, 5-9
8. HEROIC, 1-4-2, 4-10

Group B
1. Team Liquid, 3-0-4, 10-4
2. Xtreme Gaming, 2-0-5, 9-5
3. Tundra Esports, 1-0-6, 8-6
4. Gaimin Gladiators, 2-1-4, 8-6
5. Aurora, 1-1-5, 7-7
6. BetBoom Team, 2-2-3, 7-7
7. BOOM Esports, 0-2-5, 5-9
8. Blacklist International, 0-5-2, 2-12

Elite League prize pool ($960,000)
1. $300,000
2. $150,000
3. $80,000
4. $50,000
5-6. $40,000
7-8. $30,000
9-10. $20,000 — OG, Aurora
11-12. $20,000 — Entity, BetBoom Team
13-14. $20,000 — Team Spirit, BOOM Esports
15-16. $20,000 — HEROIC, Blacklist International
17-19. $10,000 — Talon Esports, Team Secret, Virtus.pro
20-22. $10,000 — KEV, Nigma Galaxy, nouns
23-24. $10,000 — 9Pandas, Rest Farmers

–Field Level Media