Dota 2 Riyadh Masters: Liquid, Aster first Play-In teams to advance to Group Stage

The Riyadh Masters 2023, the biggest Dota 2 event this year outside of the 2023 Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) season, has begun.

From 19 to 30 July, 20 of the best teams from all around the world will be battling for their share of the tournament's massive US$15 million prize pool, including a US$5 million grand prize.

Riyadh Masters kicked off with its two-day Play-In stage on Wednesday (19 July), where 12 teams will be fighting to be among the eight squads advancing to the tournament's Group Stage.

Three-time Major finalists Team Liquid and Chinese powerhouse Team Aster were quick to claim the first two Group Stage spots after a dominant showing in Group A of the Play-Ins.

Liquid, Aster claim first Group Stage spots in Group A

Despite finishing second in all three Majors this season, Liquid were only given a Play-In seed at Riyadh Masters after mixed results in DreamLeague Seasons 19 and 20.

Even so, the Western European juggernauts were quick to prove themselves worthy of a Group Stage seed with a dominant 7-1 performance in the first day of the Play-Ins.

Liquid started the day with a 1-1 draw against fellow Western European squad Entity before scoring three-straight 2-0 sweeps over Southeast Asia's Execration, Eastern Europe's Virtus.pro, and North America's TSM.

Aster also had a strong 7-1 showing to punch their ticket to the Group Stage. After a disappointing 9th-12th place finish at the Bali Major earlier this month, the Chinese team replaced longtime position 4 support Ye "BoBoKa" Zhibiao with decorated veteran Hu "Kaka" Liangzhi and are looking better than ever at Riyadh.

Aster earned their 7-1 record after sweeping Virtus.pro, Execration, and Entity while being forced to a draw by TSM.

Meanwhile, Entity, TSM, Execration, and Virtus.pro will have to earn their Group Stage spots by beating the other Play-In teams from Group B.

Entity and TSM are tied for third in Group A with 4-4 records apiece while Execration and Virtus.pro are tied for fifth after only managing one win each across eight total games.

Day two of the Play-Ins for Group A will see Liquid and Aster face off for little more than bragging rights while the rest of the teams vie for better seeds.

Quest lead the way in cutthroat Group B

While affairs in Group A have largely been settled, Group B is looking more chaotic. Even so, surging Western European squad Quest Esports are lapping the rest of the competition.

Despite recently losing star offlaner Ammar "ATF" Al-Assaf to a contract dispute, Quest don't seem to have lost a step with Abdimalik "Malik" Sailau coming in as ATF's replacement.

Quest finished day one in first place of their group with a 6-2 record. The team swept regional rivals OG and Team Secret as well as Eastern Europe's 9Pandas, but lost 0-2 to China's Xtreme Gaming.

Xtreme and 9Pandas are tied for second place in Group B after both squads ended day one with 5-3 records. OG and Secret are also tied for fourth with 3-5 records apiece.

Meanwhile, South America's Beastcoast only managed a 2-6 record and will have an uphill battle to get to the Group Stage as Group B's sixth seed.

Day two of competition in Group B will see Quest get the chance to secure the first Group Stage spot for Group B in what should be an easy win over Beastcoast. Xtreme and 9Pandas can earn the second spot if they manage to defeat OG and Secret, respectively.

Once the initial set of matches for the Riyadh Masters Play-In wrap up, the top two seeds of each group will automatically advance to the Group Stage. Liquid and Aster have already claimed the first two spots in Group A while the ones in Group B will be up for grabs between Quest, Xtreme, and 9Pandas.

Two more Group Stage spots will be handed to the winners of a cross-match between the third to sixth-placed teams of each group.

The third seeds will face the sixth seeds of the other group while the fourth seeds will take on the fifth seeds of the other group. The winners will advance to the Group Stage while the losers will be eliminated.

The losing teams of the Riyadh Masters Play-In won't walk away empty-handed though, as they will get US$50,000 for their efforts.

After the Play-In, the Riyadh Masters Group Stage will commence from 21 to 24 July. Two groups of eight teams each, comprised of directly-invited teams and the teams who survived the Play-Ins, will be battling in a single round-robin to be among the 12 teams advancing to the Playoffs.

The Top 4 teams of each group will earn upper bracket berths in the Playoffs while the fifth to sixth-placed teams will have to start in the lower bracket. Meanwhile, the bottom two teams of each group will be eliminated.

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