Team Liquids upsets Team Spirit at Riyadh Masters 2024 Playoffs

The Dota 2 Riyadh Masters 2024 playoffs kicked off with a bang on Day 1, delivering unexpected upsets and showcasing the dominance of established teams. Let’s take a quick look at how the day unfolded:

Falcons soar high vs. Xtreme Gaming

Tournament favourites Team Falcons defied the odds with a thrilling 2-1 victory over WBG.Xtreme Gaming in the opening match of the Riyadh Masters 2024 Playoffs upper bracket. They displayed exceptional teamwork and punished WBG.XG's missteps.

The only constant in XG’s line-up was Ame’s consistent plays that kept the Chinese in survival mode, however, it wasn’t enough for them to clip Falcons’ wings. XG drops to the lower bracket while the Falcons advance to the next round.

Gaimin Gladiators decimate Entity

Gaimin Gladiators decimate Entity in a clean 2:0 victory and advance to the next round of the Riyadh Masters 2024 Playoffs upper bracket. It was a surprising result as GG had a tough group stage as compared to Entity.

Entity’s form in recent weeks has been phenomenal and the series was supposed to be an intense encounter. However, GG’s methodical drafts were too much for Entity to handle who opted for a much greedier draft.

As a result, GG advances to the next round while Entity drops down to the lower bracket.

Tundra eases through OG

Tundra Esports stunned OG in the Riyadh Masters 2024 Playoffs upper bracket opener. Their masterful draft featuring Broodmother completely shut down OG's farm-reliant line-up, giving Tundra's cores free reign to snowball early and secure a dominant victory.

Both games ended in under 40 minutes with Topson getting the upper hand on his former teammate and two-time TI champion Ceb. OG was dumbfounded as they let Broodmother slip in both games and thus drop to the lower bracket.

Team Liquid upsets Team Spirit

In a shocking 2-0 sweep, Team Liquid dismantled the defending champions Team Spirit at the Riyadh Masters 2024 Playoffs. Both games ended swiftly, clocking in around 30 minutes, as Liquid dominated Team Spirit to cruise to victory.

Team Liquid’s draft was masterful with unique picks like Spirit Breaker, Jakiro and Razor that threw Team Spirit off-guard. 33’s plays were impeccable as the captain championed his team to victory against a formidable foe.

Team Liquid advances to the next round in the upper bracket while Team Spirit will have to fight through the lower bracket.

Riyadh Masters 2024 Playoffs Preview

Day 1 of the Riyadh Masters 2024 playoffs served up exciting surprises and dominant performances. Four teams have advanced to the next round in the upper bracket while eight teams will battle in the lower bracket for survival.

The winner survives whereas the loser gets eliminated from the Riyadh Masters 2024. Here’s the list of series scheduled for Day 2 of the Riyadh Masters 2024 Playoffs lower bracket:

• Xtreme Gaming vs. Aurora: It’s a battle for survival with a struggling Aurora set to compete against the Chinese giants Xtreme Gaming. Only a surprise outdraft without any errors will assist Aurora to overthrow the Chinese otherwise things look grim for the Southeast Asia (SEA) Dota 2 team.
• Entity vs. BetBoom Team: Both teams are at par in terms of skills, however, Entity looks a bit more refined and in form than BetBoom. If Entity steps up then it’s an easy victory for them, however, BetBoom cannot be ruled out of the competition just yet.
• LGD Gaming vs. Team Spirit: In hindsight, this series should be an easy route to victory for Team Spirit. However, considering Spirit’s performance against Liquid in the upper bracket, LGD has a chance to pull an upset although that’s unlikely.