The eight-team playoffs of the 1win Essence III event are set after five Saturday matches concluded the three-day group-play stage.
PARIVISION was the only team which had clinched after Friday’s action, finishing atop Group A. Aurora Gaming and LGD Gaming won Groups B and C, respectively, behind Saturday wins, while Froglings won Group D despite losing their Saturday match.
The 12-team, $200,000 Dota 2 event began with a round-robin group stage. The top two teams in each of the four groups advanced to the double-elimination playoffs. All matches in the tournament are best-of-three until the best-of-five grand final on Nov. 18.
The championship side will receive $100,000, and the runner-up will earn $50,000.
On Saturday, Aurora Gaming clinched Group B with a 2-0 win over CyberHero, which clinched second place in the group for GamerLegion. Aurora completed the sweep with a 38-minute win followed by a 39-minute win, both on Dire. Chung “WS” Wei Shen of Malaysia led Aurora’s victory with a 23-5-29 kills-deaths-assists ratio.
LGD Gaming clinched Group C with a 2-0 defeat of LEGION. After opening with a 64-minute win on Dire, LGD closed it out with a 40-minute win on Radiant. Belgian/U.S. competitor Cedric “Davai” Deckmyn led the win with a 29-7-24 K-D-A.
1w Team beat Froglings 2-1 on Saturday but failed to advance from Group D because of game differential. Froglings finished with a plus-1 differential, while Team Spirit placed second with an even differential. 1w Team opened with a 32-minute win on Dire, Froglings bounced back with a 73-minute win of its own on Dire and 1w clinched the match with a 31-minute victory on Radiant. Russia’s Ivan “Pure” Moskalenko led 1w with a 40-7-33 K-D-A ratio.
DO KONCA clinched second place in Group A and a playoff spot with their 2-1 win over Yellow Submarine. After falling behind when Yellow Submarine won the opening game in 45 minutes on Dire, DO KONCA rallied with a 50-minute triumph on Dire and a 55-minute clincher on Radiant. Russian Ilya “Kiritych” Ulyanov led DO KONCA’s victory with a 41-14-30 K-D-A.
After losing to LGD Gaming in the first match of the day, LEGION bounced back to beat Team Liquid 2-1 to finish second place in Group C and keep their title hopes alive. LEGION opened with a 51-minute win on Radiant before Liquid equalized with its own win on Radiant in 49 minutes. LEGION won the decider in 41 minutes on Dire. Ukraine’s Mikhail “Darklord” Blinov posted a 12-0-4 K-D-A in the last game.
The playoffs begin with four quarterfinal matches on Sunday.
Upper-bracket quarterfinals
— PARIVISION vs. GamerLegion
— Froglings vs. LEGION
— Aurora Gaming vs. DO KONCA
— LGD Gaming vs. Team Spirit
1win Essence III prize pool
1. $100,000
2. $50,000
3. $22,500
4. $12,500
5-6. $5,000
7-8. $2,500
9-12. (no money) — Yellow Submarine, CyberHero, Team Liquid, 1w Team
–Field Level Media
