Team Spirit and LGD Gaming earned victories on Friday to advance to the upper-bracket final of Dota 2’s The International in Seattle.
In lower-bracket action on Friday, Gaimin Gladiators and BetBoom Team stayed alive by sweeping to victories.
The International annually has the largest prize pool in esports, with the amount rising throughout the competition based on in-game sales to the public. The prize pool for last year’s International began at $1.6 million but wound up at $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 $3.12 million.
All matches for the rest of the playoffs are best-of-three until the grand final on Sunday, which will be best-of-five.
On Friday, Team Spirit pushed past Team Liquid 2-1. Spirit took the opening map in 40 minutes on red before Liquid pulled level in 54 minutes on green. Spirit won the decisive third map in 53 minutes on green.
Ukraine’s Illya “Yatoro” Mulyarchuk led Team Spirit with a 10.3/4.0/12.0 kill-death-assist ratio. Sweden’s Michael “miCKe” Vu topped Team Liquid at 8.3/5.3/9.0.
LGD Gaming swept Azure Ray 2-0 by winning twice on red, in 47 minutes and 45 minutes.
China’s Guo “shiro” Xuanang shined for LGD at 13.5/4.0/14.0. Lu “Somnus” Yao wound up at 7.0/3.5/3.5 for the all-Chinese Azure Ray team.
Gaimin Gladiators downed nouns 2-0 to advance to a lower-bracket quarterfinal match against Team Liquid. Denmark’s Marcus “Ace” Christensen powered the Gladiators at 7/1/13. The United States’ Luke “Yamsun” Wang finished at 2/4/7 for nouns.
BetBoom Team got past Virtus.pro 2-0, finishing with a marathon map to earn a matchup with Azure Ray in a lower-bracket quarterfinal. After taking the opener in 45 minutes on green, BetBoom Team advanced with an 87-minute triumph on red.
Russia’s Egor “Nightfall” Grigorenko registered a 10.0/2.5/16.5 for BetBoom. Another Russian player, Ilya “Kiritych” Ulyanov, posted a 10.5/5.5/10.5 for Virtus.pro.
The Saturday schedule:
–Lower-bracket quarterfinal — Team Liquid vs. Gaimin Gladiators
–Lower-bracket quarterfinal — Azure Ray vs. BetBoom Team
–Upper-bracket final — Team Spirit vs. LGD Gaming
–Lower-bracket semifinal — Lower-bracket quarterfinal winners
The International prize pool (percentage of total amounts going to each team)
1. 45 percent
2. 12 percent
3. 8 percent
4. 5.5 percent
5-6. 3.25 percent
7-8. 2.5 percent — nouns, Virtus.pro
9-12. 2 percent — TSM, 9Pandas, Talon Esports, Entity
13-16. 1.5 percent — Spopify Rebellion, Evil Geniuses, Keyd Stars, Tundra Esports
17-20. 1 percent — Team SMG, Thunder Awaken, beastcoast, PSG Quest
–Field Level Media