Dota 2 Riyadh Masters: Gaimin Gladiators, Quest, Aster survive lower bracket round 1

The second day of the Dota 2 Riyadh Masters 2023 Playoffs saw the first three teams get eliminated in the first round of the lower bracket.

China's PSG.LGD, The International (TI) 2022 champions Tundra Esports, and South America's Evil Geniuses (EG) were the first three teams to get knocked out of the Playoffs after they lost their respective elimination matches to Quest Esports, three-time Major champions Gaimin Gladiators, and China's Team Aster.

Here's how all the action in day two of the Riyadh Masters Playoffs went down:

Lower bracket round 1

Quest Esports 2-0 PSG.LGD

The competition in lower bracket of the Riyadh Masters Playoffs kicked off with Quest bouncing back from getting upset by Talon Esports in the previous day by sweeping PSG.LGD.

Quest had a flying start to the series, dominating in the laning stage and never looking back en route to a comfortable 33-minute win. Tony "No!ob" Assaf on a mid Snapfire and Abdimalik "Malik" Sailau on Primal Beast led the way, putting up 10 and eight kills, respectively, while only having one death apiece.

Game two was a similar story, with No!ob taking Primal Beast for himself and leading Quest in a 35-minute rout to secure the 2-0 sweep over PSG.LGD. No!ob had eight kills and eight assists against just one death to fuel Quest's 20-10 kill lead in the closeout game.

Gaimin Gladiators 2-1 Tundra Esports

The second match of the day between two heavyweights in Gaimin Gladiators and Tundra was hands-down the best.

Even with coach Kurtis "Aui_2000" Ling standing-in after Martin "Saksa" Sazdov exited the tournament due to mental health issues, Tundra pushed the three-time Major champions to the brink of elimination. However, Anton "dyrachyo" Shkredov put Gaimin Gladiators on his back and willed them to a hard-fought 2-1 series victory that kept their hopes for another championship at Riyadh alive.

Game one started with both teams trading haymakers, but Tundra were able to edge out their opponents and looked dominant all throughout the midgame. But with dyrachyo's Morphling eventually coming online, Gaimin Gladiators slowly but surely chipped away at Tundra's lead to make things even by the late game.

At that point, dyrachyo's Morphling proved too much for Tundra to handle, giving Gaimin Gladiators the 58-minute victory in game one. Dyrachyo had an excellent 12-kill, 14-assist line on just one death to fuel Gaimin Gladiators' 35-23 kill lead, though Quinn "Quinn" Callahan on Timbersaw also put up 18 kills against 10 deaths.

Tundra did not let game one slipping away from their hands affect them, as they curbstomped Gaimin Gladiators in a 33-minute game two to force the series to a decider. Oliver "skiter" Lepko on Faceless Void and Neta "33" Shapira on Visage notably combined for a clean 13 kills to pace Tundra's 27-4 kill lead.

Game three was a similar story to game one, as Tundra came out ahead from another tightly-contested laning stage to dominate in the midgame. The reigning TI champions were on the verge of closing out the series when they sieged Gaimin Gladiators' base around the 39-minute mark, but an ill-advised dive led to them falling victim to dyrachyo's Medusa.

What looked like an easy victory once again slipped from Tundra's hands from there, as their midgame-focused lineup simply could not touch dyrachyo's Medusa once things went late. Jingjun "Sneyking" Wu's Spirit Breaker notably became Tundra's most-farmed hero as he relentlessly split-pushed all across the map in an effort to stall Gaimin Gladiators' comeback, but it was all for naught.

With a Divine Rapier in hand, dyrachyo eventually completed the incredible comeback for Gaimin Gladiators after a thrilling 61-minute slugfest.

Team Aster 2-0 Evil Geniuses

The day then ended with Aster sweeping EG out of Riyadh behind back-to-back showstopping performances from import midlaner Sumail "SumaiL" Hassan.

Game one was a methodical affair, as Aster built up a significant lead from the laning stage but were wary to challenge EG's strong teamfight composition around important map objectives in the midgame. However, the Chinese team were able to outmaneuver their South American opponents by forcing them to use important spells, retreating, then re-engaging from a better positions with the enemy's key abilities were on cooldown.

SumaiL then set up two key pickoffs on EG's cores right outside of their base, which eventually allowed Aster to take game one after 42 minutes. SumaiL paced his team's 24-19 kill lead with a 11-kill, nine-assist performance on one death as Windranger.

While game one was somewhat competitive, game two was simply a rout. Aster dominated the laning stage and never looked back, snowballing to a 38-minute victory behind SumaiL's Ember Spirit and Du "Monet" Peng's Medusa.

SumaiL notched 10 kills on one death to fuel Aster's 31-19 kill lead to close out the series, with Monet pitching in with eight takedowns of his own against one death.

With the above results, Quest, Gaimin Gladiators, and Tundra all advance to the second round of the lower bracket and have guaranteed themselves at least a Top 8 finish as well as US$500,000 in winnings.

Meanwhile, PSG.LGD, Tundra, and EG have been eliminated in 9th-12th place and will take home US$300,000 in consolation.

The fourth match of the first round of the lower bracket between 9Pandas and Team Secret will be played on the third day of the Playoffs, which kick off on Thursday evening (27 July). The upper bracket semifinals will also be played on that day.

Here are the matchups for day three of the Riyadh Masters Playoffs:

• 9Pandas vs Team Secret (lower bracket round 1)

• Talon Esports vs Team Liquid (upper bracket semifinals)

• Team Spirit vs BetBoom Team (upper bracket semifinals)

The Riyadh Masters Playoffs will take place from 25 to 30 July with a double-elimination format. All matches in the Playoffs will be best-of-three series except for the Grand Finals, which will be a best-of-five.

The Riyadh Masters 2023 is the biggest Dota 2 event this year outside of the 2023 Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) season, featuring a massive US$15 million prize pool. The champions of the Riyadh Masters will go home with a handsome US$5 million grand prize.

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