nouns and 9Pandas pulled off upsets in seeding matches on Sunday night as phase two of The International 2023 concluded.
After finishing with a 0-1-3 record in group-stage action, nouns were 2-0 winners over Tundra Esports, who went 3-0-1 to finish atop Group D. 9Pandas, who went 1-1-2 in Group A, defeated BetBoom Team 2-1. BetBoom finished in second place in Group B, going 3-1-0.
LGD Gaming avoided an upset, blanking Keyd Stars 2-0. LGD (3-0-1) prevailed in Group C, while Keyd (0-1-3) took fourth place in Group D.
Azure Ray also won on Sunday, blanking Entity 2-0. Both squads went 1-1-2 in group play, but Entity locked down second place in Group A, while Azure landed third in Group B.
The Dota tournament annually has the largest prize pool in sports, with the amount rising throughout the competition based on in-game sales to the general public. The prize pool for last year’s International began at $1.6 million but wound up being $18.9 million, with Tundra Esports claiming the $8.5 million first prize.
This year’s prize pool started at $1.6 million and is currently at $3.03 million.
Phase two included eight best-of-three matches to decide seeding for the 16 teams heading to the main event.
The double-elimination playoffs will run over the course of the next two weekends in Seattle. All matches will remain best-of-three until the grand final, which will be best-of-five.
On Sunday, nouns won in 39 minutes on red and in 49 minutes on green to complete the sweep. David “Moo” Hull of the United States led the winning side with an average kills-deaths-assists ratio of 9.5-3.5-12.0.
Meanwhile, 9Pandas climbed out of an early deficit, losing in 41 minutes before earning 45- and 39-minute victories. Gleb “kiyotaka” Zyryanov had an average K-D-A of 9.3-2.3-9.7 for the all-Russian 9Pandas, who played all of their matches on red.
LGD made quick work of Keyd Stars, prevailing in 33 minutes on red, then grabbing a 30-minute win on green. China’s Li “niu” Kongbo averaged 12.0-1.0-13.0 to lead the way for LGD Gaming.
Wins on green — in 57 and 35 minutes — sent Azure Ray past Entity. Azure, a team consisting of all Chinese players, got an average K-D-A of 8.5-5.0-23.5 from Yang “Chalice” Shenyi.
The upper-bracket quarterfinals and the first two rounds of lower-bracket action will be played next weekend, but exact dates and times for those matches have not yet been announced.
All other matches will be played from Oct. 27-29, starting with the third round of the lower bracket.
Playoff action will begin with the following matchups:
Upper-bracket semifinals:
–Team Spirit vs. Virtus.pro
–Team Liquid vs. Talon Esports
–LGD Gaming vs. 9Pandas
–nouns vs. Azure Ray
Lower-bracket Round 1:
–Shopify Rebellion vs. TSM
–Evil Geniuses vs. Gaimin Gladiators
–Keyd Stars vs. BetBoom Team
–Tundra Esports vs. Entity
–Field Level Media