G2.ig and Aurora each earned one win and one tie to kick off the Round Robin Stage of the Dota 2 Elite League on Friday.
G2.ig sits atop the Group A standings and Aurora leads Group B after the first of six days of competition in the competition’s second stage.
Sixteen teams began the Elite League’s Swiss Stage (Group Stage 1), using a modified Swiss system. Nine came from closed qualifier seeds, and seven others were invited. All matches were best-of-three.
The top eight teams moved on to the Round Robin Stage (Group Stage 2), joining eight other teams that were seeded by invitation. That stage runs through Wednesday, with two single round-robin groups of eight teams apiece. Those matches are also best-of-three.
The top two teams from each group will advance to the upper bracket of the playoffs, while the third- and fourth-place teams will go to the lower bracket. The playoffs begin April 12, and matches stay best-of-three until a best-of-five grand final.
The winner takes home $300,000 from the $960,000 prize pool.
On Friday, G2.ig drew 1-1 with OG before taking down HEROIC 2-0. G2.ig beat HEROIC in 45 minutes and 36 minutes on red, with Thiay “JT-” Jun Wen of Malaysia totaling 20 kills, 25 assists and only three deaths in a standout performance.
Elsewhere in Group A, Entity and Team Falcons each had one match scheduled Friday and took care of business, with Entity beating OG and Falcons defeating PSG Quest. HEROIC swept Team Spirit before their loss to G2.ig.
In Group B, Aurora beat Blacklist International in 34 minutes on green and 42 minutes on red, with Artem “lorenof” Melnick of Ukraine putting up 23 kills and 18 assists with only two deaths for Aurora. Aurora later split a 1-1 decision with BOOM Esports.
Tundra Esports beat BOOM, while both Team Liquid and Gaimin Gladiators swept BetBoom Team.
The Round Robin Stage continues Saturday with 10 matches:
–Azure Ray vs. PSG Quest (Group A)
–Team Falcons vs. Team Spirit (Group A)
–HEROIC vs. PSG Quest (Group A)
–G2.ig vs. Azure Ray (Group A)
–Team Spirit vs. Entity (Group A)
–Tundra Esports vs. Blacklist International (Group B)
–Aurora vs. Gaimin Gladiators (Group B)
–BOOM Esports vs. Xtreme Gaming (Group B)
–Aurora vs. Team Liquid (Group B)
–BetBoom Team vs. Xtreme Gaming (Group B)
Elite League Round Robin Stage standings (match, map record)
Group A
1. G2.ig, 1-1-0, 3-1
T2. Entity, 1-0-0, 2-0
T2. Team Falcons, 1-0-0, 2-0
T2. HEROIC, 1-0-1, 2-2
5. OG, 0-1-1, 1-3
T6. PSG Quest, 0-0-1, 0-2
T6. Team Spirit, 0-0-1, 0-2
(Yet to begin: Azure Ray)
Group B
1. Aurora, 1-1-0, 3-1
T2. Gaimin Gladiators, 1-0-0, 2-0
T2. Team Liquid, 1-0-0, 2-0
T2. Tundra Esports, 1-0-0, 2-0
5. BOOM Esports, 0-1-1, 1-3
T6. Blacklist International, 0-0-1, 0-2
T6. BetBoom Team, 0-0-2, 0-4
(Yet to begin: Xtreme Gaming)
Elite League prize pool ($960,000)
1. $300,000
2. $150,000
3. $80,000
4. $50,000
5-6. $40,000
7-8. $30,000
9-10. $20,000
11-12. $20,000
13-14. $20,000
15-16. $20,000
17-19. $10,000 — Talon Esports, Team Secret, Virtus.pro
20-22. $10,000 — KEV, Nigma Galaxy, nouns
23-24. $10,000 — 9Pandas, Rest Farmers
–Field Level Media