Team Liquid recorded a pair of victories Friday to move into first place in Group A at Bali Major 2023.
Liquid swept Execration with a 23-minute win on red and a 35-minute victory on green. They followed that up with a sweep of Team Aster, courtesy of a 51-minute triumph on green and a 29-minute win on red.
Tundra Esports ascended into second place in Group A after notching a win over Shopify Rebellion and a 1-1 draw against Invictus Gaming. Tundra posted a 28-minute win on green over Shopify Rebellion and 41-minute victory on red.
Team Spirit swept Invictus Gaming to pull into a tie for third place with beastcoast, who have four draws thus far.
Eighteen teams from around the world were invited to compete for a $500,000 prize pool. The winner will receive $200,000 and 600 DPC points, and the runner-up will earn $100,000 and 550 DPC points.
Group Stage 1 runs through Monday, with a single round-robin format and all matches best-of-two.
The top four teams from each group will advance to the upper bracket of the playoffs, while the fifth- and sixth-place teams from each group advance to the lower bracket. The playoffs will be contested in a double-elimination format from July 5-9. All matches are best-of-three, except for the best-of-five Grand Final.
Also on Friday, Gaimin Gladiators posted one of the five wins in Group B play to ascend into first place.
GG dispatched PSG.LGD following 36-minute wins on green and red. They also recorded a draw versus Bleed Esports.
BetBoom Team swept nouns and Evil Geniuses to move into a second-place tie with Quest Esports in Group B, while 9Pandas notched their first win by sweeping Azure Ray.
Group A standings (match W-D-L, map record)
1. Team Liquid — 3-1-0, 7-1
2. Tundra Esports — 1-3-0, 5-3
3. beastcoast — 0-4-0, 4-4
3. Team Spirit — 1-2-0, 4-2
5. Invictus Gaming — 1-1-2, 3-5
5. Shopify Rebellion — 0-3-1, 3-5
5. Team Aster — 1-1-1, 3-3
8. Blacklist International — 0-2-1, 2-4
9. Execration — 0-1-2, 1-5
Group B standings (match W-D-L, map record)
1. Gaimin Gladiators — 2-2-0, 6-2
2. BetBoom Team — 2-1-0, 5-1
2. Quest Esports — 2-1-0, 5-1
4. nouns — 1-2-1, 4-4
4. PSG.LGD — 1-2-1, 4-4
6. 9Pandas — 1-1-1, 3-3
6. Azure Ray — 1-1-2, 3-5
8. Bleed Esports — 0-1-2, 1-5
8. Evil Geniuses — 0-1-3, 1-7
–Field Level Media