Gaimin Gladiators and Entity both pulled off sweeps on Tuesday to advance to the upper-bracket semifinals of the $500,000 Dota Pro Circuit Lima Major.
Gaimin Gladiators took down Team Aster 2-0, picking up a pair of 33-minute wins, with one coming on red and one coming on green. Entity’s 2-0 victory over Evil Geniuses came courtesy of a 43-minute win on red that preceded a 49-minute win on red.
Both squads will meet on Thursday to determine who goes to the upper-bracket final, while Team Aster and Evil Geniuses dropped into the lower bracket.
The other upper-bracket semifinal Thursday will pit Shopify Rebellion and Team Liquid. Shopify Rebellion bounced back from an early deficit to beat Team Spirit 2-1. After Team Spirit took 30 minutes to win on red, Shopify Rebellion earned two victories on red — in 43 and 40 minutes. Team Spirit will oppose PSG.LGD in the lower bracket on Wednesday.
In the late match Tuesday, Team Liquid beat Talon Esports 2-0, winning in 32 minutes on green and 50 minutes on red. Talon Esports drop into the lower bracket, where they will face HellRaisers on Thursday.
The Lima Major is the first major of the Dota Pro Circuit 2023 season and the first DPC major ever held in South America. The 18-team event consists of four teams each from Western Europe and China, three each from Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe and two each from North America and South America.
A pair of nine-team groups will conduct round-robin play through Sunday, with all matches best-of-two. The top four teams from each group advance to the upper bracket of the playoffs, and the fifth- and sixth-place teams in each group move on to the lower bracket.
The Grand Final will take place March 5. It will be the only best-of-five match of the tournament. The winner will take home $200,000 and 400 DPC points. Second is worth $100,000 and 350 points.
Playoff action continues Wednesday with three matches:
–Team Spirit vs. PSG.LGD (lower-bracket first round)
–Evil Geniuses vs. beastcoast (lower-bracket first round)
–Team Aster vs. Tundra Esports (lower-bracket first round)
–Field Level Media