Dota 2 Elite League: Team Falcons, Team Liquid, and Xtreme Gaming lead eight teams qualified for Playoffs

The second Group Stage of the Dota 2 Elite League mostly wrapped up on Thursday (11 April) with heavyweights Team Falcons, Team Liquid, and Xtreme Gaming leading the eight out of the 16 teams securing spots in the Playoffs.

The Elite League's Group Stage 2 followed a round-robin format with two groups of eight teams each, with the competition made up of eight teams who advanced from Group Stage 1 alongside eight others who received direct invites to this phase of the tournament.

The eight teams that qualified from Group Stage 1 included BOOM Esports, Entity, Tundra Esports, OG, PSG Quest, Aurora, Blacklist International, and HEROIC. Meanwhile, the directly-invited teams were Team Spirit, BetBoom Team, Team Liquid, Gaimin Gladiators, Team Falcons, Xtreme Gaming, Azure Ray, and G2.iG.

All matches in Group Stage 2 were a best-of-two with the Top 4 teams of each group advancing to the double-elimination Playoffs. The Top 2 teams will also earn upper bracket berths while the third and fourth-placed teams will start in the lower bracket.

Meanwhile, the bottom four teams of each group were eliminated and received US$20,000 in consolation.

Team Falcons dominate cutthroat Group A

Team Falcons claimed the top seed of Group A with a 10-4 record, tied for the best among all teams in this stage. Falcons' dominance is not at all surprising, given that they are widely considered the best team in the world right now following their back-to-back championships at BetBoom Dacha Dubai 2024 and DreamLeague Season 22.

Falcons 10 wins came in sweeps over Azure Ray, G2.iG, Entity, and PSG Quest as well as 1-1 draws against Team Spirit and HEROIC. With that said, two of their losses came in a surprising 0-2 defeat to OG, who ended up missing out on the Playoffs.

The three other teams that claimed Playoff spots in Group A included Chinese squads Azure Ray and G2.iG as well as MENA-based team PSG Quest. All three squads finished Group Stage 2 tied at 8-6, which meant that tiebreakers for the group's second upper bracket berth still need to be played.

Meanwhile, the teams eliminated from Group A included OG (7-7), Entity (6-8), Team Spirit (5-9), and HEROIC (4-10).

What stands out the most here is the reigning two-time The International (TI) champions Team Spirit only managing a 5-9 record.

Spirit seem to have caught the post-TI championship slump, as their recent results showed their performance has been declining. They finished 5th-6th in Betboom Dacha Dubai, fourth in DreamLeague Season 22 and in 1win Series Dota 2 Spring, failed to get out of DreamLeague Season 23's Eastern European qualifier, and now bombed out of Elite League's Group Stage 2.

With Falcons' continued ascendance, it remains to be seen whether Spirit can bounce back by the time TI 2024 in Copenhagen rolls around to claim a historic third Aegis of Champions.

Team Liquid, Xtreme Gaming top Group B

While three Playoff positions in Group A still need to be determined, things in Group B have already been settled. Team Liquid and Xtreme Gaming are through to the upper bracket while Tundra Esports and Gaimin Gladiators will be starting from the lower bracket.

Liquid topped the standings of Group B with a 10-4 record, tied with Falcons for the best finish among all teams in this stage. But unlike Falcons, Liquid managed to avoid getting swept. Instead, they were the ones to sweep BetBoom Team, Gaimin Gladiators, and Blacklist International and were forced to a 1-1 draws with Xtreme, BOOM Esports, Tundra, and Aurora.

Xtreme were not far behind with a 9-5 standing and also avoided getting swept. The Chinese squad scored 2-0 victories over Blacklist International and Aurora while drawing 1-1 with Liquid, BetBoom, Gaimin Gladiators, BOOM, and Tundra.

Meanwhile, Tundra and Gaimin Gladiators finished with 8-6 records apiece to round out the Playoff-qualified teams for Group B. Tundra notably took the third seed of the group by virtue of avoiding a 0-2 loss unlike Gaimin Gladiators, who got swept by longtime rivals Liquid.

The teams that failed to make it out of Group B include Aurora (7-7), BetBoom (7-7), BOOM (5-9), and Blacklist International (2-12).

BetBoom missing out on the Playoffs is surprising when considering they finished second in DreamLeague Season 22, though it is understandable when considering just how close the records were for Group B's third to fourth-placed teams.

With the conclusion of Elite League's Group Stage 2, OG, Aurora, Entity, BetBoom Team, Team Spirit, BOOM Esports, HEROIC, and Blacklist International have all been eliminated and will take home US$20,000 for their efforts.

Meanwhile, the eight Playoff-qualified teams have guaranteed themselves at least US$30,000 in winnings. Of course, they have their sights set on the US$300,000 grand prize out of the tournament's US$960,000 prize pool.

The Elite League Playoffs will take place from 12 to 14 April and will follow a double-elimination format. All Playoff matches will be a best-of-three except for the Grand Finals, which will be a full best-of-five series.

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