Riyadh Masters 2024: A tough start for Chinese Dota 2

Riyadh Masters 2024 has blessed the Dota 2 community with 15 days of top-tier matches for a $5 million prize pool.

The tournament started with 12 teams in Play-in Seeds battling for eight spots in the Groups Stage. With the Play-in completed, let's take a look at the results.

Riyadh Masters: Eliminated Teams

End of the line for Nouns, Azure Ray, Virtus.Pro and G2.IG. (Source: Esports World Cup)

Twelve teams competed for eight spots. They were split into two groups, with all series being Bo2 in a round-robin format. The top 3 teams from each group qualified for the Group Stage, while the 4th and 5th placed participated in a Decider match for the last two spots. The team that placed last was eliminated.

The seeding results were,

Group A

1. Entity (WEU)
2. Blacklist International (SEA)
3. Beastcoast (SA)
4. Virtus.pro (EEU)
5. LGD Gaming (China)
6. G2.IG (China)

Group B

1. HEROIC (SA)
2. PSG.Quest (MENA)
3. Aurora (SEA)
4. Nouns (NA)
5. MOUZ (WEU)
6. Azure Ray (China)

The Chinese region couldn't keep up with the competition, though they got an additional spot in Play-in Seed. G2.IG and LGD scored (0-3-2) and tied for last place. They had a Bo3 tie-breaker, which LGD won to take 5th place.

Azure Ray, however, might have had their worst performance so far this year. With a 0-1-4 score, they were the first team to drop out of Riyadh Masters 2024. This is a bad start for Chinese Dota 2, especially since all three teams have players from the PSG.LGD roster that won Riyadh Masters 2022.

Decider Matches

Virtus.pro placed 4th in their group and had to face Mouz in a Decider Bo3, but they lost. Mouz has been gaining some traction but struggled against some of the top names.

Nouns was the only NA team in the entire Riyadh Masters 2024. They were pitted against LGD in a Decider and tried to carry the NA torch. However, after a 90-minute Game 2, LGD took a 2-0 victory.

Qualified Teams

The brutal Group Stage awaits these teams! (Credit: Esports World Cup)

The SA and SEA regions had a good run in the Play-in, securing top 3 positions in both groups. Entity and HEROIC took the No. 1 spot in their groups with only 2 total game losses each. HEROIC's amazing performance was a shock, as they have drastically improved against international competitors.

PSG.Quest are yet to prove themselves this year. Their only notable achievement so far is securing 6th place in Elite League S1 and taking $40,000. They choke outside of the MENA region, but have showed some improvement in the Play-in.

However, the real road to Riyadh Masters 2024 starts now. These qualified teams will be facing the best Dota 2 teams. The Group Stage begins tomorrow, the 10th of July. The Play-in teams may have gotten a head start by adopting new meta changes. But, they have also exposed their strategies to their upcoming opponents.

Read More at Strafe: Will the Play-in qualified teams survive the brutal Group Stage?

Featured Image: Esports World Cup