Dota 2 Elite League; 8 teams advance to second group stage

Elite League comes as a huge entry into the Dota 2 esports, not just in terms of prize money, but also as a way for Valve to determine team rankings. The event is hosted by Fissuer and ESB and features a prize pool of $960,000.

Group stage 1 for the Dota 2 Elite League concluded on April 4 with eight teams making their way into the group stage 2. BOOM Esports and Entity went flawless in stage 1 while OG, PSG Quest and Tundra Esports only dropped one match.

Aurora, Blacklist International and Heroic also managed to stay out of the elimination list while a few other fan favourites like Virtus.pro and Team Secret failed to qualify. These teams will join eight others who received a direct invite to stage 2. All the competitors are now aiming for one of the eight spots in the Playoffs.

Group stage 2 format

Group stage 2 will run from April 5 to April 10. The 16 teams are divided into two groups of eight and will face each other in a single round-robin stage in their respective groups. All matches will be best-of-two, with only the top four teams from each group moving to playoffs.

Here are all the teams in stage 2 -

• Group A

Entity
Azure Ray
G2 x iG
Heroic
OG
PSG Quest
Team Falcons
Team Spirit

• Group B

Tundra Esports
Aurora
BetBoom Team
Blacklist International
BOOM Esports
Gaimin Gladiators
Team Liquid
Xtreme Gaming

The top two teams from each group will move directly to the upper brackets of playoffs, while the teams in the third and fourth spots will start from the lower brackets. The bottom four teams in both groups are eliminated. Teams in upper brackets will have another chance after a loss, while lower brackets will not enjoy this luxury as they have to give their best all the time.