DreamLeague Season 28: Group Stage Results and Playoff Schedule

After a couple of weeks of nonstop action, DreamLeague Season 28 finally gets to the Playoffs. Let's take a closer look at how four of the initial sixteen teams got past the Group Stages and which matches will decide the tournament's Top 4.

At the same time, we will also talk a bit about how teams performed and how unpredictable changes affected the outcome for bigger teams like Team Falcons and returning organizations such as paiN Gaming.

DreamLeague Season 28: Group Stage Results

First Group Stage

The First Stage happened between February 16 and February 20, eliminating eight teams from the DreamLeague Season 28 lineup. Among these teams, paiN Gaming had a hard run due to David "Parker" Nicho Flores adding another stain to his already spotty history.

Smiling Knight took his place on the roster and, despite getting a tie against OG and a victory against Team Yandex, paiN was eliminated along with them and the Yakult Brothers in Group A.

Group B had another surprise in the path of Natus Vincere. Despite getting second place in the recent BLAST Slam, NaVi did not manage to get past the first Group Stage in DreamLeague Season 28 and got eliminated along with Team Spirit, GamerLegion and Execration.

These results mean that the Americas and Southeast Asia were eliminated from DreamLeague Season 28 in the first stage. Team Yandex also showed signs of internal problems considering they did not manage to win a single match, the same as GamerLegion.

Second Group Stage

The Second Stage started on February 21 and ended on February 27, cutting the remaining lineup in half once again. The spotlight shone brighter than ever on Team Liquid. They made a perfect 7-0 run and qualified for the Playoffs with a day to spare.

Team Falcons felt the weight of playing without Ammar "ATF" Al-Assaf. Despite winning their last match against Xtreme Gaming, Team Falcons were eliminated along with PARIVISION, BetBoom Team and MOUZ.

On the other side of the board, after Team Liquid, Tundra Esports, Aurora Gaming and Xtreme Gaming compose the Top 4 of the first ESL tournament of 2026. Each of these teams will get at least 2,560 EPT Points, which is more than Team Falcons' 2025 total, even taking into consideration the bonus points for placing 3rd in the First Stage.

Interesting Data

In between match results, ESL revealed some interesting data about DreamLeague Season 28. The first interesting piece of data was a snapshot of the meta during the Group Stage, showing that Treant Protector was highly contested for a very good reason.

When the hero got past the bans, he had an impressive 85.7% win rate up until February 21st. That is over 13% ahead of the second place hero, which was Puck, with an equally impressive 72.4% win rate.

On the other side of the list, Kunkka seems to be in dire need of a buff considering he got a 12.5% win rate in 8 matches. Viper also had pretty underwhelming results with a 28.6% win rate in 21 games.

Another interesting piece of information was the fact that some players were still undefeated with a selected pool of heroes by February 22nd. Phoenix is a particularly interesting hero, being the only one to show up as a strong option for two different players.

Finally, among the most communicative players, we have a pattern. Nightfall was the player with the most pings until February 23rd, with an average of 212 per game. The second and third places were players that also talked to Otomo out of the game. Apparently, Ari and Boxi have a lot to say inside and outside of the arena.

DreamLeague Season 28: Playoffs Schedule

Now that the Second Stage is over, we get to the Playoffs, which will start on February 28 and finish on March 1. There will be only two matches per day and four in total since there are four remaining teams. Here is the schedule for the Playoffs:

• February 28 — 14:00 GMT — Aurora Gaming vs. Xtreme Gaming
• February 28 — 17:00 GMT — Team Liquid vs. Tundra Esports
• March 1 — 12:00 GMT — UB Final Loser vs. LB Semifinal Winner
• March 1 — 15:00 GMT — Grand Final

The first day of the Playoffs starts with Aurora Gaming standing in the way of Xtreme Gaming on the road to the Grand Final. Aurora suffered three defeats during the Second Stage and one of them was a 2-1 loss against Xtreme Gaming. Will they succeed this time?

In the second match of the first day of the Playoffs, Team Liquid will face Tundra Esports for the first spot in the Grand Final. Team Liquid had a perfect run in the Second Stage, as we already mentioned, but Tundra was one of the teams that managed to take a map from them.

There is a chance for Tundra to learn from their past mistakes, but will this be enough to win the Upper Bracket Final? We will find out soon enough.

Closing Thoughts

DreamLeague Season 28 is nearing its end and Team Liquid showed that their recent performance was no fluke. Will they manage to win another tournament coming out of BLAST Slam VI? Everything points in that direction, but there's no certainty in Dota until the last GG is called.

If you want to stay informed on the latest updates on DreamLeague Season 28 and the upcoming data regarding the tournament's metagame shifts, remember to check the news section on our website!

Featured Image Source: Twitter (@ESLDota2) and Dotabuff