A balanced field produced a balanced outcome on Day 1 of the DreamLeague Season 22 Sunday, with none of the top Dota 2 teams managing to grab more than a single victory through two games.
That left four teams — Aurora, Shopify Rebellion, Team Spirit and Xtreme Gaming — in a tie atop Group B and three teams — BetBoom Team, OG and Virtus.pro — deadlocked at the head of Group A.
Underscoring that balance, Group B kicked off with four straight ties before Team Spirit was able to down Team Liquid 2-0 for the first win in the group. Spirit won in 41 minutes and 45 minutes, both on red.
Xtreme Gaming followed with a 2-0 win over Tundra Esports, winning in 37 minutes and 40 minutes on green, before Shopify Rebellion took down Team Secret 2-0, winning in 37 minutes and 48 minutes on green.
Aurora closed out the day with a marathon 2-0 victory over 1win, winning in a whopping 69 minutes on red and 54 minutes on green.
In Group A, BetBoom Team found early success, dropping Gaimin Gladiators 2-0 with wins on green (47 minutes) and red (38 minutes).
OG followed with a 2-0 win against G2.iG, winning in 36 minutes and 32 minutes, both on red.
The other wins in Group A came from Virtus.pro, who defeated Heroic 2-0, and Heroic, who rebounded from that early loss to defeat G2.iG 2-0. Virtus.pro won in 53 minutes on red and 40 minutes on green, while Heroic won in 35 and 36 minutes, both on red.
DreamLeague Season 22 continues Monday, with 16 of the top Dota 2 teams from around the globe competing for the $100,000 prize pool. Stage 1 of group play will wrap on Wednesday.
Stage 2 of group play features one round robin of the top eight teams to advance, and matches are best of three. The playoffs are a four-team, double-elimination bracket. Matches are best-of-three, except the Grand Finals, which is best-of-five.
Critical ESL Pro Tour points toward qualification for additional 2024 events are also on the line. The event concludes March 10 at Meltdown London.
Monday’s schedule: Group A
Gaimin Gladiators-OG
BetBoom-Azure Ray
G2.iG-Virtus.pro
Heroic-Falcons
Falcons-G2.iG
BetBoom-OG
Virtus.pro-Gaimin Gladiators
Azure Ray-Heroic
Group B
Team Spirit-Xtreme Gaming
Tundra Esports-Shopify Rebellion
Team Liquid-Aurora
1win-Team Secret
Xtreme Gaming-Team Liquid
Team Spirit-Team Secret
Aurora-Tundra Esports
Shopify Rebellion-1win
Standings: Group A
1. BetBoom Team (1-1-0, 3-1)
1. OG (1-1-0, 3-1)
1. Virtus.pro (1-1-0, 3-1)
4. Azure Ray (0-2-0, 2-2)
4. Heroic (1-0-1, 2-2)
4. Team Falcons (0-2-0, 2-2)
7. Gaimin Gladiators (0-1-1, 1-3)
8. G2.iG (0-0-2, 0-4)
Group B
1. Aurora (1-1-0, 3-1)
1. Shopify Rebellion (1-1-0, 3-1)
1. Team Spirit (1-1-0, 3-1)
1. Xtreme Gaming (1-1-0, 3-1)
5. 1win (0-1-1, 1-3)
5. Team Liquid (0-1-1, 1-3)
5. Team Secret (0-1-1, 1-3)
5. Tundra Esports (0-1-1, 1-3)
Prize pool/points
Total — $1,000,000 | 18,550 Points
1st — $300,000 | 4,200 Points
2nd — $175,000 | 3,500 Points
3rd — $120,000 | 2,800 Points
4th — $85,000 | 2,240 Points
5th — $52,500 | 1,680 Points
6th — $47,500 | 1,400 Points
7th — $42,500 | 840 Points
8th — $37,500 | 560 Points
9th & 10th — $25,000 | 350 Points
11th & 12th — $20,000 | 175 Points
13th & 14th — $15,000 | 98 Points
15th & 16th — $10,000 | 42 Points
–Field Level Media