PSG.LGD are winners of Riyadh Masters

After five days of challenging Dota 2 matches, PSG.LGD have emerged as champions of  Riyadh Masters 2022.

For their victory, PSG.LGD will receive $1.5 million in prize money. But just as important, this success demonstrated that their second place in the Dota Pro Circuit rankings is well deserved, despite what happened in Tour 3 in the Chinese region.

Riyadh Masters group stage summary

Riyadh Masters started well for PSG.LGD, with a victory against the same opponent they ended up playing later in the Grand Final — Team Spirit. Not only did they win, but they did it with ease. The final score was 2–0, with both games finishing in under 30 minutes. In Dota 2, that’s a clear sign that you’ve dominated the match almost completely.

The next match for PSG.LGD was the hardest. Despite Wang “Ame” Chunyu’s best efforts, his squad got crushed by Team Secret in two very quick games: 26 minutes and 29 minutes. And to add salt to injury, Clement “Puppey” Ivanov picked Techies in game one and Phantom Assassin in game two. On paper, it looked as though Secret’s heroes had no synergy whatsoever. But in the actual battle, Puppey used all of them to perfection.

The two remaining matches in group B were easy and PSG.LGD finished second with a record of 3W–0D–1L or 6W–2L. The best-of-two format did not impede them at all.

Meanwhile, in group A, OG won with a record of 6W–2L. The second and third-placed teams were Royal Never Give Up and Nigma Galaxy. This meant that OG and Secret were offered a spot in the semifinals while PSG.LGD, Nigma Galaxy, RNG, and Team Spirit were going to start the playoffs in the quarterfinals.

Playoff matches

The first round of playoff matches was really fun to watch. PSG.LGD had to defeat Sumail “SumaiL” Hassan’s team Nigma, and they needed three games to do it. However, all three of them ended relatively quickly — 34 minutes, 22 minutes, and 32 minutes. Game 2 in particular was a complete stomp. PSG.LGD thought they could get away with a Chaos Knight pick, but Nigma read their intentions correctly and just picked a lineup perfect for rushes, with Zeus, Bloodseeker, and Dawnbreaker.

In the semifinals, OG were regarded as the big favorite. But PSG.LGD counter-picked and outplayed them with ease in games one and three. They would have won game two as well, but OG’s draft was extremely powerful in the later stages and the battle did go beyond the 40-minute mark.

The Grand Final was a rematch of the TI10 Grand Final. However, PSG.LGD had already defeated Team Spirit at Riyadh Masters in the group stage, so it was clear that they were the favorites. The match ended very quickly — 65 minutes in total with just two games. PSG.LGD’s drafts were designed to win them the early stages of the game and they simply snowballed both times. Team Spirit picked Marci, Ember, and Viper both times, which proved to be a mistake.

Header: Saudi Esports Federation