Riyadh Masters Play-In Stage Results

The play-in stage of Riyadh Masters ended with some pretty big surprises. G2.iG and Azure Ray were eliminated from the start because they finished last in their respective groups. Neither of them managed to win a single match. And in the case of Azure, they only won one game out of ten.

On the other hand, we had the opportunity to watch teams like Entity and HEROIC dominate their groups and not lose a single match. Both of them had a win rate of 80%, losing just two games out of ten.

Group A Results

ANOTHER 2-0!

Our Play-Ins journey ends on a bright note and we are officially advancing to the GROUP STAGE! 🔥🔥

LETS.FRIKIN.GO!! 📢📢#RiyadhMasters #EWC pic.twitter.com/SJNLZBgyC2

— Entity (@EntityDota) July 6, 2024

Group A was supposed to be dominated by G2.iG, Entity, and LGD Gaming. But the two Chinese teams played poorly, leaving room for Blacklist International and beastcoast to achieve impressive results. Blacklist achieved a 70% win rate while beastcoast advanced to the group stage of Riyadh Masters from 3^rd place, with just five game victories.

Virtus.pro and LGD Gaming had to play decider matches. VP lost against MOUZ but LGD won against nouns.

Group B Results

how it feels to get an extra day to rest after topping our group 😎 pic.twitter.com/4bobFCp3mw

— HEROIC Dota 2 (@heroicdota2) July 7, 2024

In group B of the play-in stage, HEROIC, PSG Quest, and Aurora advanced directly to the group stage by achieving win rates of 80%, 70%, and 60% respectively. The first two of these teams did not lose any of their five best-of-two series, so we don’t know exactly which one is stronger.

The difference between the top three teams in this group and the 4^th and 5^th was substantial (2 points). Nouns only lost one match and drew four times, but they unfortunately lost the decider match against LGD Gaming. This means that Fly will not compete in the group stage.

Out of the 16 participants that are left in the race, not a single one is from North America. This marks a new low for the region, which desperately needs new stars and new investments.

The Play-In Meta

The Riyadh Masters 2024 meta has been quite strange so far. We’ve seen Hoodwink being picked 32 times and banned 16 times, with an overall win rate of 66.7%.

Pangolier was also spammed by his win rate was only 30.4%. Among the highly picked heroes, Beastmaster had the highest win rate: 72.2% in a total of 18 games.

Templar Assassin’s recent nerfs became obvious during the first stage of this tournament. TA was picked 14 times and had a win rate of less than 43%. Sven, Ember Spirit, and Spirit Breaker, on the other hand, performed much better and will likely continue to be prioritized by teams.

Header: ESL, Esports World Cup Foundation