Gaimin Gladiators and Team Liquid swept their matches on Thursday to advance to the upper-bracket final of the $500,000 Dota Pro Circuit Lima Major.
The Gladiators topped Entity 2-0, while Liquid handled Shopify Rebellion 2-0.
In the day’s only other match, Talon Esports defeated HellRaisers 2-0 in first-round, lower-bracket play.
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 held round-robin play last week, with all matches best-of-two. The top four teams from each group advanced to the upper bracket of the playoffs, and the fifth- and sixth-place teams in each group moved on to the lower bracket.
The grand final will take place on Sunday. 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.
On Thursday, Gaimin earned 36- and 26-minute wins on green behind an 8.5-1.0-10.0 kill-death-assist ratio from the United States’ Quinn “Quinn” Callahan. Kazakhstan’s Alimzhan “watson” Islambekov finished at 4.0-1.5-2.5 for Entity.
Liquid posted two victories over Shopify Rebellion on green, in 31 and 46 minutes. Sweden’s Ludwig “zai” Wahlberg logged a 7.5-4.0-12.5 K-D-A ratio for Liquid, while the Philippines’ Abed “Abed” Yusop wound up at 8.5-0.5-5.0 for Shopify Rebellion.
Talon registered a pair of 43-minute wins over HellRaisers on green. Thailand’s Nuengnara “23savage” Teeramahanon logged a whopping 18.0-2.5-19.5 K-D-A ratio for Talon. Russia’s Gleb “kiyotaka” Zyryanov produced an 8.0-8.5-5.0 K-D-A ratio for HellRaisers.
The second round of the lower bracket is scheduled for Friday, with Talon Esports opposing Team Spirit and Evil Geniuses matching up with Team Aster. Shopify Rebellion will oppose the Evil Geniuses-Team Aster winner later on Friday.
On Saturday, Entity will face the Talon Esports-Team Spirit winner, the lower-bracket semifinal will be contested and Gaimin will square off with Liquid for a berth in the final.
Dota Pro Circuit Lima Major prize pool and points distribution
1. $200,000, 400 DPC points
2. $100,000, 350 DPC points
3. $75,000, 300 DPC points
4. $50,000, 250 DPC points
5-6. $25,000, 200 DPC points
7-8. $12,500, 100 DPC points
9-12. no money, no DPC points — HellRaisers, PSG.LGD, beastcoast, Tundra Esports
13-14. no money, no DPC points — TSM, Geek Slate
15-16. no money, no DPC points — Execration, BetBoom Team
17-18. no money, no DPC points — EHOME, Knights
–Field Level Media