Team Liquid swept OG 2-0 on Thursday and cemented first place in the Group Stage 2 of DreamLeague Season 19.
Liquid and Gaimin Gladiators finished in the top two positions of the round-robin stage and will face off in the upper-bracket final of the playoff stage. Joining them in the playoff are Shopify Rebellion and Tundra Esports, who placed third and fourth, respectively.
Those four teams are set to duke it out in a double-elimination playoff. Playoff matches are best-of-three leading to Sunday’s grand final, which is best-of-five. The winner will receive $300,000 and qualification to the Riyadh Masters.
Sixteen teams began the $1 million Dota 2 event. Two groups, each consisting of eight teams, battled in Group Stage 1. The top four teams from each group moved on to Group Stage 2, while the bottom four teams were eliminated.
Group Stage 2 merged the eight remaining teams into one group and featured best-of-three matches. Four teams advanced to the playoffs, with the top two teams moving into the upper bracket and the third- and fourth-place finishers competing in the lower bracket.
On Thursday, Gaimin Gladiators defeated Evil Geniuses 2-1, allowing them to match Liquid’s overall record of 6-1. Liquid was officially first place because it won the first tiebreaker over Gladiators, the number of 2-0 sweeps during the stage (five to four).
Liquid earned that fifth sweep by beating OG in 31 minutes and 39 minutes, both on red. Gladiators, meanwhile, won their first map in 30 minutes on green before Evil Geniuses responded in 40 minutes on green. Gladiators took the decisive third map in 32 minutes on red.
Shopify Rebellion solidified third place by beating TSM 2-0 — winning in 44 minutes on green and 36 minutes on red.
Tundra, similarly, ensured it would grab a top-four spot by beating beastcoast 2-0 — 22 minutes on green and 39 minutes on red.
The playoffs begin Saturday with two matches:
–Team Liquid vs. Gaimin Gladiators (upper-bracket final)
–Shopify Rebellion vs. Tundra Esports (lower-bracket final)
DreamLeague Season 19 Group Stage 2 final standings with match record, map record:
1. Team Liquid, 6-1 (12-3)
2. Gaimin Gladiators, 6-1 (12-4)
3. Shopify Rebellion, 5-2 (10-5)
4. Tundra Esports, 4-3 (9-7)
5. OG, 2-5 (6-11)
6. beastcoast, 2-5 (4-11)
7. Evil Geniuses, 2-5 (8-12)
8. TSM, 1-6 (4-12)
DreamLeague Season 19 prize pool
1. $300,000, berth in Riyadh Masters
2. $175,000
3. $120,000
4. $85,000
5. $52,500 — OG
6. $47,500 — beastcoast
7. $42,500 — Evil Geniuses
8. $37,500 — TSM
9-10. $25,000 — Execration, Team Spirit
11-12. $20,000 — Team Aster, Talon Esports
13-14. $15,000 — ex-HellRaisers, Nigma Galaxy
15-16. $10,000 — Entity, nouns
–Field Level Media