PSG.LGD earned first place in Group Stage 2 and a berth straight into the upper-bracket final of DreamLeague Season 20 as the second stage of competition wrapped up Thursday.
PSG.LGD cruised past last-place Team Aster 2-0 to finish the stage 6-1. BetBoom Team, which began Group Stage 2 5-0, lost for the second straight day when 9Pandas defeated them 2-1.
That dropped BetBoom Team into a tie for second at 5-2 with Gaimin Gladiators, who battled past Evil Geniuses in three maps to keep EG out of the top four. Talon Esports earned the fourth and final berth into the playoff stage by blanking Team Spirit 2-0.
BetBoom Team and Gaimin Gladiators will play a best-of-three tiebreaker on Friday to determine their playoff seeding. The winner will earn a bye into the upper-bracket final to play PSG.LGD.
Sixteen Dota 2 teams from around the world were invited to DreamLeague Season 20 to compete for a $1 million prize pool. The winner will receive $300,000 and the runner-up will earn $175,000, with the top two finishers also qualifying for the Riyadh Masters later this year.
Group Stage 1 went from June 11-14, with a single round-robin format and all matches best-of-two. The top four teams from each group advanced to Group Stage 2 and formed one single group of eight, featuring best-of-three matches. The top four finishers from Group Stage 2 qualified for a double-elimination playoff stage June 24-25.
On Thursday, PSG.LGD beat Aster in 56 minutes and 30 minutes, both on green. Cheng “NothingToSay” Jin Xiang of Malaysia led PSG.LGD by averaging a kills-deaths-assists ratio of 10.5-1.0-10.5.
9Pandas opened with a 32-minute win over BetBoom on green, but BetBoom responded with a 32-minute win on green. On the final map, 9Pandas prevailed in 44 minutes, again playing on green. 9Pandas’ Gleb “depressed kid” Zyryanov of Russia posted a remarkable 21-1-10 K-D-A on the decisive map.
Gaimin Gladiators won their first map in 40 minutes on green, but Evil Geniuses countered with a 31-minute win on green. GG sewed up the match, and their spot in the playoffs, by winning the final map in 26 minutes on red. Quinn “Quinn” Callahan was critical for GG in the final map, posting a 9-0-8 K-D-A.
Talon needed 61 minutes to beat Team Spirit the first time around before cleaning up the sweep with a 42-minute win, both played on green. Anucha “Jabz” Jirawong of Thailand averaged an 11.5-4.5-14.5 K-D-A to help Talon.
Group Stage 2 concludes on Friday with one tiebreaker match:
–BetBoom Team vs. Gaimin Gladiators
Group Stage 2 standings:
1. PSG.LGD, 6-1 — advances to playoffs
T2. BetBoom Team, 5-2 — advances to playoffs
T2. Gaimin Gladiators, 5-2 — advances to playoffs
4. Talon Esports, 4-3 — advances to playoffs
T5. Evil Geniuses, 3-4
T5. Team Spirit, 3-4
7. 9Pandas, 2-5
8. Team Aster, 0-7
DreamLeague Season 20 prize pool:
1. $300,000, Riyadh Masters berth
2. $175,000, Riyadh Masters berth
3. $120,000
4. $85,000
5. $52,500
6. $47,500
7. $42,500
8. $37,500
9-10. Tundra Esports, beastcoast — $25,000
11-12. Team Secret, Shopify Rebellion — $20,000
13-14. TSM, OG — $15,000
15-16. Team Liquid, Entity — $10,000
–Field Level Media