Falcons, Spirit shine as DreamLeague Season 29 begins

Team Falcons and Team Spirit each swept two matches on Wednesday as the DreamLeague Season 29 event got underway.

Falcons and Spirit sit atop Group A, which saw all eight teams play two matches to kick off the tournament. In Group B, each side played once, and BetBoom Team, Natus Vincere, PARIVISION and Xtreme Gaming were the victors.

The $1 million Dota 2 event is beginning with the 16 teams divided into two groups for round-robin play. The top four teams in each group earn spots in the upper bracket for the double-elimination playoffs, while the fifth- and sixth-place teams will start the playoffs in the lower bracket.

All matches through the event are best-of-three until the final on May 24, which will be best-of-five. The championship team will receive $250,000 in player prize money, a club bonus of $40,000 and a minimum of 6,000 ESL Pro Tour points.

On Wednesday, Team Spirit opened by sweeping Vici Gaming 2-0, prevailing in 39 minutes on red and 59 minutes on green. Russia's Denis "Larl" Sigitov logged a 19-3-19 kill-death-assist ratio for Team Spirit. Guo "shiro" Xuanang posted a 19-7-17 K-D-A ratio for all-Chinese Vici Gaming.

Spirit then edged Team Liquid 2-1, sandwiching a 51-minute and 47-minute wins on red around a 53-minute loss on green. Ukraine's Illya "Yatoro" Mulyarchuk produced a 27-11-35 K-D-A ratio for Team Spirit. Poland's Michal "Nisha" Jankowski wound up at 39-15-41 for Team Liquid.

Virtus.pro claimed a 67-minute victory on green before Team Falcons equalized with a marathon 1-hour, 47-minute win on red. Team Falcons completed the comeback in 37 minutes on green. Slovakia's Oliver "skiter" Lepko ended up with a 41-13-30 K-D-A ratio for Team Falcons, including 32 kills in the middle gang. The Philippines' Abed "Abed" Yusop notched a 36-12-41 K-D-A ratio for Virtus.pro.

Elsewhere in Group A, Team Liquid edged Aurora Gaming 2-1, ex-HEROIC handled GamerLegion 2-0, Virtus.pro took down ex-HEROIC 2-0, and Vici Gaming toppled GamerLegion 2-0.

In Group B, PARIVISION nipped Tundra Esports 2-1, Natus Vincere bested Nigma Galaxy 2-0, Xtreme Gaming pounded PlayTime 2-0, and BetBoom Team beat 2-0.

The Thursday schedule:

Group A

--Aurora Gaming vs. Team Spirit

--ex-HEROIC vs. Team Falcons

--GamerLegion vs. Team Liquid

--Vici Gaming vs. Virtus.pro

Group B

--Nigma Galaxy vs. PrimeTime

--PARIVISION vs. BetBoom Team

--Xtreme Gaming vs. Tundra Esports

--Natus Vincere vs. REKONIX

--PARIVISION vs. Xtreme Gaming

--Natus Vincere vs. BetBoom Team

--Nigma Galaxy vs. Tundra Esports

--PrimeTime vs. REKONIX

DreamLeague Season 29 prize pool, with player prize money, club bonus money and base ESL Pro Tour points

1. $250,000, $40,000, 6,000 points

2. $100,000, $30,000, 5,000 points

3. $80,000, $25,000, 4,000 points

4. $60,000, $20,000, 3,200 points

5-6. $40,000, $15,000, 2,200 points

7-8. $27,500, $12,500, 1,000 points

9-12. $20,000, $10,000, 375 points

13-14. $12,500, $10,000, 140 points

15-16. $10,000, $10,000, 60 points