Experienced Teams Triumph At Riyadh Masters 2024

Ahead of Riyadh Masters 2024, everyone assumed that Team Falcons would have no real opponent at the tournament and would win with ease. But after the first day of the group stage, it became clear that they weren’t exactly invincible.

After losing the first two matches (and these were best-of-two series, not best-of-three), Falcons went on to win match after match until they won group A with 9 points. Meanwhile, Tundra Esports and Entity won group B with 11 points.

Based on these results, the three teams mentioned above were expected to do well in the playoffs. But that’s when the more experienced competitors proved to be extremely hard to beat.

Gaimin Gladiators’ Run

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— GG | Gaimin Gladiators ⚔️ (@GaiminGladiator) July 18, 2024

Gladiators finished 3^rd in group A with a record of 2 W – 4 D – 1 L, so not very spectacular. Based on this result, they looked like they were going to finish the playoffs in the top six or maybe even the top four. But not higher.

In the upper bracket quarterfinals, Gladiators encountered Entity and destroyed them in two games that lasted just 36 and 31 minutes respectively. Both times, Gladiators picked Weaver and Jakiro and their playstyle was very difficult to counter. They had superior map vision, excellent timings, and knew what to do to prevent the game from stalling for too long.

Entity’s carry heroes were Morphling and Terrorblade. Such heroes tend to need a lot of time to fully come online. If their farm is disrupted at an early stage, the game can end abruptly because they simply cannot offer enough damage in team fights.

In the semifinals, Gladiators encountered Falcons and beat them 1 – 2 using heroes like Brewmaster, Chen, and Chaos Knight. Once again, their strategy was to group up very quickly and control the map in a way that made it impossible for Falcons to farm as they wanted. Games 2 and 3 lasted under 30 minutes each.

Team Liquid’s Run

Liquid finished group B in 3^rd place with 9 points. They had three victories, three draws and one defeat. In the playoffs, they encountered Team Spirit in the first round and won with ease. Game 1 lasted 29 minutes and game 2 just 32. Their main heroes were Razor and Templar Assassin.

What’s really interesting is how they baited Spirit into thinking that Morphling, Sven, and other heroes would be played in a core role, when in fact they were used in supporting roles.

In the second round, Liquid ran into Tundra Esports and won 2 – 1. Tundra made the mistake of repeating heroes two and even three times. Because of this, they were very predictable.

Header: ESL, Esports World Cup Foundation