Lima Major: Conclusion of Group Stage and Playoffs' Expectations

After many intense games of Dota, the group stage is finally over. The playoffs of the Lima Major will be starting on the 28th of February. The top 8 teams from the groups will advance to the upper bracket. The bottom three teams got eliminated, and the remainder advanced to the lower bracket.

Last day of Groups

All the matches on the final day ended with 2-0 victories except for BetBoom vs. Geek Slate. These clean victories stopped the group stage from running into tie-breakers. This gives the teams time to plan their strategies going into the playoffs. It also showed the difference in skill between regions. NA, SA, and SEA are considered to be the weaker regions. But they proved to be stronger than expected during the groups.

Qualifying for upper bracket

PSG.LGD had one last chance to get into the top 4 of their groups to avoid the lower bracket. But they were no match for Gaimin Gladiators, who led their group. Both games ended before the 30-minute mark, with GG asserting their dominance.

The following eight teams advanced to the upper bracket:

• Team Liquid
• Gaimin Gladiators
• Team Spirit
• Entity
• Evil Geniuses
• Shopify Rebellion
• Team Aster
• Talon Esports

Tie-breakers

Team Aster and BeastCoast were tied for the 4th spot in group b. A best-of 3's was played to determine who got the spot. Team Aster got a 2-1 victory and secured their upper bracket spot.

Geek Slate and HellRaisers also shared the score, not determining who stays in the 6th place. A tie-breaker was played between these 2 teams, with HellRaisers coming on top.

Lower bracket

After the Tie-breakers, these teams advanced to the lower bracket:

• PSG.LGD
• Beastcoast
• Tundra Esports
• HellRaisers

PSG.LGD and TI11 champs Tundra Esports have the potential to be one of the top teams. But they lost their footing during the groups, dropping them in the lower bracket. However, they could still make a comeback.

The losers of the first round of upper-bracket matches will face off against these four teams.

Eliminated from Lima Major

China and South East Asia regions are losing 2 teams each before the playoffs. With China supposed to be on par with Europe, this is not the result fans expected. But the most shocking elimination of all is BetBoom. After a clean 7-0 victory during their Lima Major qualifiers, we thought they would be one of the leading teams. The eliminated teams are,

• TSM
• Geek Slate
• Execration
• BetBoom Team
• EHOME
• Knights

With Knights being accused of unethical behavior throughout this DPC, their losses make the community more suspicious.

Playoffs' expectations

With the playoffs starting tomorrow, fans are all hyped up. Team Liquid has the best chance of getting to the finals based on their run this DPC season. Some of the fans even think they will win the Lima Major. Gaimin Gladiators, Team Spirit, and Entity are not that far behind. These three teams are equally capable of taking on Team Liquid for the championship.