Team Falcons grabbed a win and tie, while G2.iG also earned a victory, as each squad grabbed a share of the lead in Group A Sunday on the third day of the Round Robin Stage of the Dota 2 Elite League.
Team Falcons began their day with a tie against HEROIC, winning on red in 42 minutes before dropping the second game in 56 minutes playing on green. Oliver "skiter" Lepko paced his side with seven kills and added eight assists.
A sweep against Azure Ray was in store next, with Team Falcons winning in 43 minutes on red and in 30 minutes on green. Ammar "ATF" Al-Assaf averaged 7.5 kills to go along with 9.5 assists.
G2.iG also earned a share of first with their 2-0 victory against Team Spirit, winning on red in 35 minutes and on green in 51 minutes. They were paced by Thiay "JT-" Jun Wen who averaged 9.5 kills and 8.0 assists.
Elsewhere in Group A, PSG Quest defeated Entity 2-0 before losing to OG 2-0.
In Group B, Team Liquid won and Tundra Esports tied twice to tie Aurora at the top of that group.
Team Liquid actually grabbed the only win of the day in Group B, dumping Gaimin Gladiators 2-0. Liquid won on green in 27 minutes and on red in 37 minutes.
Tundra Esports kicked their day off with a tie against Xtreme Gaming, losing in 49 minutes while playing on red before winning in 30 minutes on green.
A second tie came against BetBoom Team, with Tundra again dropping the first game, losing in 49 minutes on red, before rallying for a 47-minute victory on green.
In other Group B action, BOOM Esports tied Blacklist International and Xtreme Gaming tied Gaimin Gladiators.
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.
The Round Robin Stage continues Monday with 10 matches:
--HEROIC vs. Azure Ray (Group A)
--Team Spirit vs. OG (Group A)
--Team Falcons vs. G2.iG (Group A)
--Entity vs. HEROIC (Group A)
--OG vs. Team Falcons (Group A)
--Tundra Esports vs. Aurora (Group B)
--BetBoom Team vs. Blacklist International (Group B)
--Team Liquid vs. Tundra Esports (Group B)
--Gaimin Gladiators vs. BOOM Esports (Group B)
--Team Liquid vs. Xtreme Gaming (Group B)
Elite League Round Robin Stage standings (match, map record)
Group A
T1. G2.iG, 2-2-0, 6-2
T1. Team Falcons, 2-2-0, 6-2
T3. Entity, 2-0-1, 4-2
T3. PSG Quest, 2-0-3, 4-6
T5. Azure Ray, 1-1-1, 3-3
T5. HEROIC, 1-1-2, 3-5
T5. OG, 1-1-1, 3-3
8. Team Spirit, 0-1-3, 1-7
Group B
T1. Aurora, 1-3-0, 5-3
T1. Team Liquid, 2-1-0, 5-1
T1. Tundra Esports, 1-3-0, 5-3
T4. Gaimin Gladiators, 1-2-1, 4-4
T4. Xtreme Gaming, 0-4-0, 4-4
6. BOOM Esports, 0-3-1, 3-5
T7. BetBoom Team, 0-2-2, 2-6
T7. Blacklist International, 0-2-1, 2-4
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
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