Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh hosts the Riyadh Masters 2022, the Dota 2 tournament with a $4,000,000 prize pool. Riyadh Masters 2022 will begin today, July 20, and the final day will be July 24. Let’s take a look at what awaits us in Riyadh and which teams participate in this tournament.
Riyadh Masters 2022 is a part of Gamers8, an event held by the Saudi Esports Federation. This offline tournament includes ten of the best Dota 2 teams worldwide and offers an incredible prize pool. After this five-day tournament, more tournaments will come for different esports titles in Saudi Arabia during Gamers8.
Riyadh Masters 2022 teams
Seven teams are invited to Riyadh Masters 2022: PSG.LGD, Team Secret, Team Spirit, OG, Tundra Esports, Nigma Galaxy and TSM. As you can see, the teams are mostly invited due to their fame rather than current success. However, three teams are here because they won a tournament.
After winning Gamers Without Borders in their respective regions, Team Liquid from Europe & CIS, Royal Never Give Up from China and Deboosters from Saudi Arabia secured a ticket to Riyadh Masters 2022.
There are very few roster changes in the teams. Malik will play as a stand-in for Saudi Arabia’s Deboosters due to Ukrainian Funn1k being unable to travel. Resolut1on will replace iceiceice for Team Secret, Daxak joins Tundra Esports to replace 33 and ana will replace MATUMBAMAN for Team Liquid as stand-in players.
A single round-robin group stage will be played in Riyadh Masters 2022, followed by single-elimination bracket playoffs with best of three games. During the group stage, matches will be best-of-two, allowing for draws to happen. If you don’t want to miss such intense competition, you can watch the games live on Luckbox. Sign up now if you decide to place your bets on your favourites to claim your 100% bonus.
Group A
Group A includes Nigma Galaxy, OG, Royal Never Give Up, Team Liquid and TSM. Check out the schedule below:
July 20, Wednesday
TSM (3.80) vs Team Liquid (3.10) - 14:00 CEST
RNG (2.50) vs Nigma Galaxy (4.50) - 14:00 CEST
OG (3.00) vs RNG (4.00) - 20:00 CEST
Liquid (3.20) vs Nigma Galaxy (3.80) - 20:00 CEST
July 21, Thursday
OG (3.00) vs Liquid (4.00) - 14:00 CEST
TSM (3.20) vs Nigma Galaxy (3.80) - 14:00 CEST
OG vs Nigma Galaxy - 20:00 CEST
TSM (3.80) vs RNG (3.00) - 20:00 CEST
July 22, Friday
OG (2.80) vs TSM (4.20) - 17:00 CEST
RNG (3.50) vs Liquid (3.40) - 17:00 CEST
Nigma Galaxy was demoted to Division II in WEU last season but got promoted again this season. However, that still makes them the weakest link in Group A. After winning Tour 2, OG finished Tour 3 Division I in third place, showing up as a strong contender for the championship as always.
Team Liquid looks stronger, though: they were able to take down OG in the tiebreakers and finish second. While those two will attend Arlington Major, TSM missed that chance after a fourth-place finish in NA Division I. Finally, Royal Never Give Up will be the group favourite thanks to their strong performance in CN Division I. They were able to win the tournament to represent their region in Arlington Major.
Group B
In Group B, Deboosters, PSG.LGD, Team Secret, Team Spirit and Tundra Esports will compete. Check out the schedule:
July 20, Wednesday
Tundra Esports (2.50) vs Team Secret (5.00) - 17:00 CEST
Team Spirit (1.10) vs Deboosters (12.00) - 17:00 CEST
July 21, Thursday
PSG.LGD (2.35) vs Team Spirit (5.30) - 11:00 CEST
Team Secret (1.17) vs Deboosters (12.00) - 11:00 CEST
PSG.LGD (1.88) vs Team Secret (7.50) - 17:00 CEST
Tundra Esports (1.15) vs Deboosters (12.00) - 17:00 CEST
July 22, Friday
PSG.LGD (1.10) vs Deboosters (12.00) - 14:00 CEST
Tundra Esports (3.00) vs Team Spirit (4.00) - 14:00 CEST
Team Spirit (2.70) vs Team Secret (4.40) - 20:00 CEST
PSG.LGD (2.90) vs Tundra Esports (4.00) - 20:00 CEST
Coming from Saudi Arabia, Deboosters is naturally the weakest team in the group and will aim to steal one or two games from their strong enemies. The top three teams of The International 21 are here, starting with the champion Team Spirit. Spirit was able to make it to Arlington Major recently, but after they lost the tiebreakers, they took third place in their league.
Team Secret has had disappointing results since The International 10. They missed every single Major this year and most recently finished fifth in DPC WEU after a poor performance. In contrast, Tundra Esports won DPC WEU Division I and secured a ticket to Texas, standing out as the group's favourites. Only PSG.LGD could fight for that title, but they weren’t so good lately either, finishing DPC CN fourth place with difficulty.
