Riyadh Masters MENA Qualifier is a very important tournament that will decide one of the 20 Riyadh Masters participants. Given that this year’s edition offers $15 million in prize money, everyone wants to be there. The winner will get $5 million, which is almost the equivalent of winning The International 5.
These days, Dota 2 doesn’t get much love from Valve. The company seems to have abandoned this project in favor of other games, such as Counter-Strike. Over the past three years, prize pools have been small compared to what they used to be and the only epic tournament that was left was The International.
But now that ESL and SEF have gotten involved more seriously, everyone is happy again. Or at least content with the fact that the professional Dota 2 scene still offers great opportunities. Lots of people can continue to play the game full-time without having to consider other sources of income.
Of course, for those who are really good at Dota 2 and are constantly watched by hundreds of thousands of people, streaming is also a great way of earning a living. But things get simplified when you can simply go to a tournament that offers half a million dollars for finishing 7th-8th.
MENA Qualifier results (partial)
The MENA Qualifier featured just four teams and only three of them are still in the race: Nigma Galaxy, Quest Esports, and Team Secret ME. All of these teams are close to each other in terms of strength, which makes the lower bracket Final and Grand Final very exciting to watch.
Both of these matches will be played later today. In the lower bracket Final, Secret will need to defeat Nigma, which will be extremely difficult. The two teams have already played against each other in the upper bracket. Nigma won game 1 with ease and then won game 2 as well, but in 54 minutes.
There’s always the Lower Bracket.
See you tomorrow @teamsecret ME!
GG @questesports_ #StarsAlign #NGXdota pic.twitter.com/xv5G4khTh8
— Nigma Galaxy (@NigmaGalaxy) June 22, 2023
Unfortunately for Kuro “KuroKy” Takhasomi, Quest Esports proved to be stronger in the upper bracket Final. Kuro had to play against his former teammate, Ammar “ATF” Al-Assaf, who is very talented. In the lower bracket Final he will have to play against another former teammate, Clement “Puppey” Ivanov.
This match will be sad no matter who ends up winning. If Puppey wins, there’s a good chance that Kuro will retire. But Kuro does have a good chance to win. The only problem is that the Grand Final will be extremely difficult.
Header: Saudi Esports Federation