Team Spirit came from a map down to sport a comeback win on Saturday in the upper-bracket final to advance to the grand final of the Riyadh Masters.
Spirit pulled off a come-from-behind 2-1 win over Team Liquid, bumping the loser into Sunday’s lower-bracket final.
Team Liquid will take on Talon Esports, who eliminated 9Pandas 2-0 and Gaimin Gladiators 2-1 on Saturday, for a chance at a rematch with Team Spirit in the grand final.
The $15 million Riyadh Masters began with 20 teams, and 12 were left standing after the play-in and group stages.
The group stage featured two groups of eight teams and concluded on Monday. Those matches were best-of-two in a single round-robin format. The top four teams advanced to the upper bracket of the playoffs, while the fifth- and sixth-place teams from each group advanced to the lower bracket. The remaining teams have been eliminated.
The double-elimination playoff stage runs through Sunday. Matches are best-of-three except for the grand final, which is best-of-five.
The winning team pockets $5 million with $2.5 million going to the runner-up.
In Saturday’s lone upper-bracket match, Liquid opened with a win in 49 minutes on green. But Spirit shined in battling back with a 54-minute victory on green followed by a 32-minute win on red.
In the lower bracket, Talon began by outlasting 9Pandas in 61 minutes on green, then followed with a 30-minute win on red. Talon Esports then opened with a 51-minute win on red over Gaimin Gladiators to open their lower-bracket semifinal. GG evened things with a 48-minute victory on green, but Talon secured its second win of the day with a 53-minute victory on red.
The final two matches of the event take place on Sunday:
–Team Liquid vs. Talon Esports (lower-bracket final)
–Team Spirit vs. Team Liquid/Talon Esports winner (grand final)
Riyadh Masters prize pool:
1. $5 million — TBD
2. $2.5 million — TBD
3. $1.7 million — TBD
4. $1.2 million — TBD
5-6. $800,000 — BetBoom Team, 9Pandas
7-8. $500,000 — Quest Esports, Team Aster
9-12. $300,000 — PSG.LGD, Tundra Esports, Evil Geniuses, Team Secret
13-14. $200,000 — OG, TSM
15-16. $100,000 — Xtreme Gaming, Shopify Rebellion
17-20. $50,000 — beastcoast, Entity, Virtus.pro, Execration
–Field Level Media