Tundra Esports rally, stay unbeaten at Riyadh Masters
Nov 5, 2022; San Francisco, California, USA; Fans follow the game between T1 and DRX during the League of Legends World Championships at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports 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