Team Liquid and Gaimin Gladiators won their respective matches Monday to move into a tie for first place at 3-1 during Group Stage 2 of DreamLeague Season 19.
Liquid swept Evil Geniuses 2-0, and Gladiators did the same to TSM. In the other action of the day, Shopify Rebellion beat Tundra Esports 2-0 and beastcoast shut out OG by the same margin.
Sixteen teams are competing in the $1 million Dota 2 event, which runs through Sunday. The winner will receive $300,000 and qualification to the Riyadh Masters.
Two groups 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 merges the eight remaining teams into one group and features best-of-three matches. Four teams advance 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.
Those four teams will duke it out in a double-elimination playoff. Playoff matches are best-of-three leading to the April 23 grand final, which is best-of-five.
On Monday, Team Liquid breezed past Evil Geniuses in 33 minutes on red and 37 minutes, again on red.
Gaimin Gladiators made quick work of TSM by winning in 24 minutes and 12 minutes, both times on red. GG previously beat Team Liquid 2-0 on the first day of the stage.
Shopify Rebellion defeated Tundra in 38 minutes and 33 1/2 minutes on green, and beastcoast got past OG in 37 minutes and 30 minutes on green.
There are three more days of Group Stage 2 matches, starting Tuesday with four matches:
–Evil Geniuses vs. Shopify Rebellion
–beastcoast vs. Team Liquid
–Gaimin Gladiators vs. Tundra Esports
–TSM vs. OG
Group Stage 2 standings with match record, map record:
T1. Gaimin Gladiators, 3-1 (6-2)
T1. Team Liquid, 3-1 (6-3)
T3. beastcoast, 2-2 (4-5)
T3. Evil Geniuses, 2-2 (5-6)
T3. Shopify Rebellion, 2-2 (4-4)
T3. Tundra Esports, 2-2 (5-4)
T5. OG, 1-3 (3-6)
T5. TSM, 1-3 (3-6)
–Field Level Media