BetBoom, Talon headed to tiebreaker at DreamLeague 26

BetBoom Team and Talon Esports will meet in a tiebreaker after the sides tied for second at Group Stage 2 at DreamLeague Season 26 on Thursday.

While PARIVISION completed its undefeated run through the seven-round stage by beating Gaimin Gladiators 2-0, BetBoom swept Yakult Brothers 2-0 and Talon did the same to Team Liquid to finish the round robin at 5-2.

Both BetBoom and Talon have qualified for the playoff stage, but the winner of Friday's tiebreaker match will earn the second seed and move directly into the upper-bracket final.

The same goes for Aurora Gaming and Gaimin Gladiators, each of whom lost Thursday to tie in the standings at 3-4. They will play a tiebreaker match on Friday to determine the fourth and final team to make the playoffs.

The $1 million Dota 2 tournament began with 16 teams divided into two groups of eight in Group Stage 1. The top four teams from each group advanced out of the opening phase.

Group Stage 2 consists of a single round-robin of best-of-three matches. Four teams then will compete in a double-elimination playoff bracket, featuring best-of-three matches until the best-of-five grand final on Sunday.

The first-place team will pocket $250,000 plus a $40,000 club reward. There also will be 29,200 ESL Pro Tour points distributed among the teams participating.

On Thursday, PARIVISION dismissed Gladiators in 36 minutes on red and 52 minutes on green. Alan "Satanic" Gallyamov of Russia averaged a 13.0/2.5/14.0 kills-deaths-assists ratio to lead PARIVISION.

BetBoom defeated Yakult Brothers in 35 minutes on green and 45 minutes on red. The winners were paced by Russian Danil "gpk" Skutin (11.0/4.0/8.0 K-D-A).

Talon, meanwhile, prevailed over Team Liquid in 41 minutes on green and 39 minutes on red. Rafli "Mikoto" Fathur Rahman of Indonesia averaged a 10.5/1.5/15.0 K-D-A for Talon.

The only match that needed three maps Thursday saw Nigma Galaxy take down Aurora 2-1. Nigma Galaxy won in 30 minutes on red and fell in 39 minutes playing on green before a 31-minute triumph on red in the do-or-die third map. Pakistani-American Sumail "Suma1L" Hassan starred for Nigma Galaxy with an average K-D-A of 9.3/2.3/9.7, including a 10/0/17 line on the final map.

Group Stage 2 concludes Friday with two tiebreaker matches:

--BetBoom Team vs. Talon Esports

--Aurora Gaming vs. Gaimin Gladiators

DreamLeague Season 26 final Group Stage 2 standings (win-loss, map record)

1. PARIVISION, 7-0, 14-2

T2. BetBoom Team, 5-2, 11-6

T2. Talon Esports, 5-2, 12-7

T4. Aurora Gaming, 3-4, 9-10

T4. Gaimin Gladiators, 3-4, 7-11

6. Yakult Brothers, 2-5, 6-10

7. Nigma Galaxy, 2-5, 7-12

8. Team Liquid, 1-6, 5-13

DreamLeague Season 26 prize pool, with winnings and club reward

1. $250,000, $40,000

2. $100,000, $30,000

3. $80,000, $25,000

4. $60,000, $20,000

5. $45,000, $15,000

6. $35,000, $15,000

7. $30,000, $12,500

8. $25,000, $12,500

9-10. $20,000, $10,000 -- Shopify Rebellion, Team Falcons

11-12. $17,500, $10,000 -- Xtreme Gaming, NAVI Junior

13-14. $15,000, $10,000 -- BOOM Esports, AVULUS

15-16. $10,000, $10,000 -- OG.LATAM, Edge