Dota 2 Riyadh Masters 2023: Spirit defeats Liquid in Grand Final

Dota 2 Riyadh Masters 2023 is being held in this year's Gamers8 festival in Saudi Arabia. It was announced earlier this year by ESL FACEIT as part of the new Dota 2 ESL Pro Tour, which also included two DreamLeague seasons that culminate with the ongoing Masters. The second iteration of the tournament features the 20 best teams from around the world.

With the conclusion of both DreamLeague Seasons, ESL and Gamers8 revealed all the twenty teams that have qualified for the Riyadh Masters 2023. One spot was filled by Quest Esports, after they defeated Team Secret ME and Nigma Galaxy in MENA qualifiers to earn a seat.

Since Valve announced that they are leaving the traditional Battle Pass system starting with The International 2023, fans will be eager to see the high-octane gameplay and actions at the upcoming masters that will likely boast the largest prize pool for a Dota 2 tournament in 2023.

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Everything you need to know about Dota 2 Riyadh Masters 2023

Schedule, format, and prize pool

The Dota 2 Riyadh Masters 2023 commenced on Wednesday, July 19, and will continue until the finale on Sunday, July 30. It was initially supposed to commence on Monday, July 17, but got delayed.

The in-person live event is being held in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudia Arabia. It is a part of the Gamers8 festival and will see a mouth-watering $15,000,000 total prize pool.

As mentioned above, 20 of the world's best teams in Valve's popular MOBA title ia going head-to-head in an epic brawl for the title of Riyadh Masters Champions and the lion's share of the $15 million prize pool.

Place	$ USD	Percent	Teams
1st	$5,000,000	33.33%	Team Spirit
2nd	$2,500,000	16.67%	Team Liquid
3rd	$1,700,000	11.33%	Talon Esports
4th	$1,200,000	8%	Gaimin Gladiators
5th-6th	$800,000	5.33%	BetBoom Team || 9Pandas
7th-8th	$500,000	3.33%	Quest Esports || Team Aster
9th-12th	$300,000	2%	PSG.LGD || Tundra Esports || Evil Geniuses || Team Secret
13th-14th	$200,000	1.33%	OG || TSM
15th-16th	$100,000	0.67%	Xtreme Gaming || Shopify Rebellion
17th-20	$50,000	0.33%	beastcoast || Entity || Virtus.pro || Execration

According to the official announcement on Gamers8 Esports' Twitter channel, the format for the event is as follows:

• Play-Ins (July 19-20): This will feature 12 teams divided into two round-robin groups of six. All matches at this level will be best-of-2 with the top two teams from each group making their way to the Group Stage. 3rd vs 6th & 4th vs 5th matches will be played from opposite groups to determine who qualifies for the Group Stage. In total, eight teams will advance.
• Group Stage (July 21-24): This will feature Dota 2 teams divided into two round-robin groups of eight. Like the previous stage, this will also feature best-of-2. The top four teams from each group will book their berths in the Upper Bracket Playoffs while the 5th & 6th placed teams from each group make their way to the Lower Bracket Playoffs. The 7th and 8th-placed teams will be eliminated. In total, 12 teams will advance.
• Playoffs (July 25-30): This will feature 12 teams in a double-elimination bracket. The Upper Bracket will feature eight teams and the Lower Bracket will feature four. All matches will best-of-3 with the Grand Finals being best-of-5.

For the Dota 2 Riyadh Masters 2023, three teams directly qualified from DeamLeague Seasons 19 & 20, while five others booked their berths based on their highest average placings across both seasons.

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Dota 2 Riyadh Masters Play-In: Table, schedule, and more

Group A

Standings	Team	Record
1	Team Aster	4-1-0
2	Team Liquid	3-1-1
3	TSM	1-3-1
4	Entity	1-3-1
5	Execration	0-2-3
6	Virtus.pro	0-2-3

Group B

Standings	Team	Record
1	Quest Esports	4-0-1
2	Xtreme Gaming	3-1-1
3	9Pandas	2-2-1
4	Team Secret	1-2-2
5	OG	1-1-3
6	beastcoast	1-0-4

Day 1 - July 19

• Liquid vs Entity: 1-1
• Aster vs Virtus.pro: 2-0
• Execration vs TSM: 0-2
• OG vs Quest: 0-2
• beastcoast vs Secret: 0-2
• Xtreme vs 9Pandas: 0-2
• Execration vs Liquid: 0-2
• Virtus.pro vs Entity: 0-2
• Aster vs TSM:1-1
• beastcoast vs OG: 2-0
• 9Pandas vs Quest: 0-2
• Xtreme vs Secret: 1-1
• Virtus.pro vs Liquid: 0-2
• Execration vs Aster: 0-2
• Entity vs TSM: 1-1
• Quest vs Secret: 2-0
• 9Pandas vs OG: 1-1
• beastcoast vs Xtreme: 0-2
• TSM vs Liquid: 0-2
• Entity vs Aster: 0-2
• Execration vs Virtus.pro: 1-1
• 9Pandas vs beastcoast: 2-0
• Secret vs OG: 0-2
• Quest vs Xtreme: 0-2

Day 2 - July 20

• Liquid vs Aster: 0-2
• TSM vs Virtus.pro: 1-1
• Execration vs Entity: 1-1
• beastcoast vs Quest: 0-2
• Secret vs 9Pandas: 1-1
• OV vs Xtreme: 0-2

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Dota 2 Riyadh Masters Group Stage: Table, schedule, and more

Group A

Standings	Team	Record
1	Quest Esports	2-5-0
2	Team Spirit	2-4-1
3	Gaimin Gladiators	2-4-1
4	9Pandas	1-5-1
5	PSG.LGD	2-3-2
6	Evil Geniuses	2-3-2
7	OG	0-5-2
8	Xtreme Gaming	1-3-3

Group B

Standings	Team	Record
1	BetBoom Team	6-0-1
2	Team Liquid	3-3-1
3	Team Aster	3-3-1
4	Talon Esports	3-2-2
5	Team Secret	2-2-3
6	Tundra Esports	0-4-3
7	TSM	0-4-3
8	Shopify Rebellion	0-4-3

Day 3 - July 21

• XG vs Quest: 1-1
• GG vs Spirit: 1-1
• EG vs 9P: 2-0
• PSG.LGD vs OG: 2-0
• GG vs PSG.LGD: 1-1
• EG vs Spirit: 1-1
• Quest vs 9P: 1-1
• XG vs OG: 1-1
• Tundra vs BB: 0-2
• Aster vs Liquid: 1-1
• SR vs TSM: 1-1
• Talon vs Secret: 2-0
• Aster vs Secret: 2-0
• Tundra vs Talon: 1-1
• SR vs BB: 0-2
• Liquid vs TSM: 1-1

Day 4 - July 22

• 9P vs OG: 1-1
• GG vs EG: 1-1
• Quest vs Spirit: 2-0
• XG vs PSG.LGD: 2-0
• Spirit vs PSG.LGD: 2-0
• GG vs Quest: 1-1
• 9P vs XG: 1-1
• OG vs EG: 1-1
• Tundra vs SR: 1-1
• Aster vs Talon: 1-1
• Liquid vs BB: 0-2
• TSM vs Secret: 0-2
• TSM vs Talon: 0-2
• Tundra vs Aster: 0-2
• Liquid vs SR: 1-1
• Secret vs BB: 2-0

Day 5 - July 23

• Quest vs EG: 2-0
• GG vs XG: 2-0
• 9P vs PSG.LGD: 1-1
• OG vs Spirit: 1-1
• GG vs 9P: 0-2
• PSG.LGD vs EG: 2-0
• OG vs Quest: 1-1
• Spirit vs XG: 2-0
• TSM vs Aster: 1-1
• Tundra vs Liquid: 0-2
• BB vs Talon: 2-0
• SR vs Secret: 1-1
• Secret vs Liquid: 0-2
• Talon vs SR: 2-0
• BB vs Aster: 2-0
• Tundra vs TSM: 1-1

Day 6 - July 24

• PSG.LGD vs Quest: 1-1
• EG vs XG: 2-0
• Spirit vs 9P: 1-1
• GG vs OG: 2-0
• Talon vs Liquid: 0-2
• Aster vs SR: 2-0
• BB vs TSM: 2-0
• Tundra vs Secret: 1-1

Tiebreaker

• EG vs 9P: 0-1
• PSG.LGD vs 9P: 0-1
• SR vs TSM: 0-1
• Tundra vs TSM: 1-0
• Tundra vs SR: 1-0

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Dota 2 Riyadh Masters playoff schedule

Day 7: July 25

• Upper Bracket Quarterfinal: Quest Esports vs Talon Esports: 1-2
• Upper Bracket Quarterfinal: Team Liquid vs Gaimin Gladiators: 2-1
• Upper Bracket Quarterfinal: Team Spirit vs Team Aster: 2-0
• Upper Bracket Quarterfinal: BetBoom Team vs 9Pandas: 2-1

Day 8: July 26

• Lower Bracket Round 1: PSG.LGD vs Quest Esports: 0-2
• Lower Bracket Round 1: Tundra Esports vs GG: 1-2
• Lower Bracket Round 1: Evil Geniuses vs Aster: 0-2

Day 9: July 27

• Lower Bracket Round 1: Team Secret vs 9P: 0-2
• Upper Bracket Semifinal: Talon vs Liquid: 1-2
• Upper Bracket Semifinal: Spirit vs BB: 2-1

Day 10: July 28

• Lower Bracket Round 2: Quest Esports vs GG: 0-2
• Lower Bracket Round 2: Aster vs 9P: 1-2
• Lower Bracket Quarterfinal: BetBoom Team vs GG: 1-2

Day 11: July 29

• Lower Bracket Quarterfinal: Talon vs 9P: 2-0
• Lower Bracket Semifinal: GG vs Talon: 2-1
• Upper Bracket Final: Team Liquid vs Spirit: 1-2

Day 12: July 30

• Lower Bracket Final: Liquid vs Talon: 2-0
• Grand Final: Spirit vs Liquid: 3-1

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Dota 2 Riyadh Masters 2023 livestream details

The community will be able to catch the proceedings on the official Twitch and YouTube channels of Gamers8.