The two group stage winners in action Saturday night won their seeding matches with sweeps as phase two of The International 2023 began.
Team Spirit, which went unbeaten to top the Group A pack, defeated Shopify Rebellion 2-0. The Rebellion was the fourth-place team in Group B.
The leading team in Group B, Team Liquid, also rolled to a win, knocking off Evil Geniuses 2-0. The Geniuses were Group A’s fourth-place team.
The day’s other two matches involved teams from Groups C and D. Virtus.pro, which tied for third in Group C, took two straight maps from TSM, the second-place team in Group D.
In the only match that wasn’t a sweep, Talon Esports needed three maps to get past the Gaimin Gladiators. Talon finished third in Group D, while the Gladiators took second in Group C.
The Dota tournament annually has the largest prize pool in sports, with the amount rising throughout the competition based on in-game sales to the general public. The prize pool for last year’s International began at $1.6 million but wound up being $18.9 million, with Tundra Esports claiming the $8.5 million first prize.
This year’s prize pool started at $1.6 million and is currently at $2.98 million.
Phase two this weekend includes eight best-of-three matches to decide seeding for the 16 teams heading to the main event.
The double-elimination playoffs will run Oct. 20-22 and Oct. 27-29 in Seattle. All matches will remain best-of-three until the grand final, which will be best-of-five.
On Saturday, Team Spirit played on red for both of its maps and won in 40 and 55 minutes. Yaroslav “Miposhka” Naidenov of Russia led the winners with a 10.5/6.5/17.0 kill-death-assist ratio.
Team Liquid also scored its two wins on red, in 38 and 36 minutes. Michal “Nisha” Jankowski of Poland finished at 10/3/12 and teammate Samuel “Boxi” Svahn of Sweden was at 9/2/11 for Liquid.
Virtus.pro took its first map on red in 55 minutes and the second on green in 28 minutes. Ilya “Kiritych” Ulyanov of Russia paced the winners at 16/4/12.
Talon played on green for all three of its maps. They lost the first one in 40 minutes but won the next two, in a whopping 65 minutes and then in 43 minutes. Nuengnara “23” Teeramahanon of Thailand paced Talon at 7.7/3.3/8.3.
The phase-two seeding matchups for Sunday are:
–LGD Gaming vs. Keyd Stars
–BetBoom Team vs. 9Pandas
–Tundra Esports vs. nouns
–Entity vs. Azure Ray
–Field Level Media