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Dota 2 Riyadh Masters 2022 preview

Dota 2 Riyadh Masters 2022 is a huge Dota 2 tournament that was announced at a somewhat unexpected moment.... Radu M. | 19. July 2022

Dota 2 Riyadh Masters 2022 is a huge Dota 2 tournament that was announced at a somewhat unexpected moment.

The event offers the largest prize pool we’ve seen in many years outside The International — $4 million. In fact, this is probably the largest prize pool that’s ever been offered at a non-TI event. And the participants are some of the best in the world.

Dota 2 Riyadh Masters 2022 details

Dota 2 Riyadh Masters 2022 is scheduled to take place in Riyadh, Dubai, between July 20-24. The competition features 10 teams, 7 of which got directly invited. The process was not exactly transparent and according to the community’s speculations, it was guided to an extent by personal preferences of organizers.

For instance, Nigma Galaxy participated in a tournament called Gamers Without Borders 2022: Europe & CIS, which offered the winner a ticket to Dota 2 Riyadh Masters 2022. However, they failed to win and then got invited anyway.

That aside, here are the teams that will participate in Dota 2 Riyadh Masters 2022:

  • LGD
  • Team Secret
  • Team Spirit
  • OG
  • Tundra Esports
  • Nigma Galaxy
  • TSM
  • Team Liquid
  • Royal Never Give Up
  • Deboosters

Even though four of the teams will play with a stand-in, two of the stand-ins are famous players who might greatly enhance the quality of the show. Namely retired OG player Anathan “ana” Pham will replace Team Liquid’s Lasse “MATUMBAMAN” Urpalainen, while former HellRaisers player Roman “Resolut1on” Fomynok will replace Team Sevret’s Daryl “iceiceice” Xiang.

However, it remains to be seen whether they will impact the results in a positive or a negative way. Although teams playing with stand-ins are often expeced to perform a bit worse than with the full roster, these are formidable stand-ins and the effect might be the exact opposite.

One thing to note is that this will be the first time that we see ana compete against OG. The player has helped OG to claim a lot of trophies, including two Aegis of Champions, so it’s a bit strange to see him compete for a different team.

Overall, the competitive level is very impressive and the tournament feels a lot like a Major or The International. Many of the world’s best teams are attending and the results they will get will reveal a lot about the current international pecking order.

One decision that’s a bit hard to understand is the invitation offered to TSM. Arguably, the North American team that should have been invited is Evil Geniuses. But for some reason, the best competitor in the region will not attend Dota 2 Riyadh Masters 2022.

The winners will receive $1.5 million.

Header: Saudi Esports Federation