The Riyadh Masters 2024, the most significant Dota 2 tournament of the first half of the year, is about to begin. A total of 20 teams will gather for three weeks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to compete for the largest share of one of the biggest prize pools of 2024: $5 million.
Teams
The Riyadh Masters 2024 will take place in Riyadh from July 4 to 21, bringing together the top 20 teams from seven different regions around the world. Eight of these teams qualified through the ESL EPT Ranking, while the remaining 12 teams qualified through the Closed Qualifiers held a few weeks ago.
Source: Esports World Cup
Dates and Format
The Arabian Dota 2 tournament will consist of three stages: the Play-In Stage, the Group Stage, and the Playoffs.
The Play-In Stage will be held from July 4 to 7, featuring the 12 teams that qualified through the Closed Qualifiers in each region. These 12 teams will be divided into two groups of six, playing Best of 2 series.
The top three teams from each group will advance to the Group Stage, while the 4th and 5th place teams will move to the Decider. The last place teams in each group will be eliminated.
Source: Esports World Cup
In the Decider, the 4th place team from each group will face the 5th place team from the other group in a Best of 3 series. The winner of this matchup will advance to the Group Stage, while the loser will be eliminated.
The Group Stage will take place from July 10 to 14 and will feature the eight teams that advanced from the Play-In Stage plus the eight teams that qualified through the ESL EPT Ranking.
In this stage, the 16 teams will be divided into two groups, playing Best of 2 series in a round-robin format. The top four teams from each group will advance to the Playoffs, the 5th and 6th place teams will move to the Lower Bracket, and the 7th and 8th place teams will be eliminated from the tournament.
The Playoffs, the final stage of the tournament, will feature teams competing in Best of 3 series in a double-elimination format. The two best teams will reach the Grand Final, where they will face off in a Best of 5 series. The winner will be crowned champion and will take home $1.5 million.
The Favorites
Based on the performances we’ve seen throughout the year, there are two clear favorites to win this competition: Falcons and Xtreme Gaming.
Falcons
The MENA team will play as the host in this tournament. Although only one of its players, ATF, is native to this part of the world, it’s clear that part of the audience will support them due to being the largest and most important organization in MENA. This, combined with their outstanding play throughout the year, which has seen them win four out of six Tier 1 tournaments, makes them the top favorites to win the Riyadh Masters 2024.
Xtreme Gaming
The Chinese team has shown impressive moments throughout the year and was the only team to defeat Falcons in a final. While their performance has had highs and lows, many believe in their potential to shine during the competition.
We’ll have to wait and see if Xtreme Gaming can reach their peak form, as they did when they won the Elite League Season 1.
Team Spirit
Lastly, there’s a team that has garnered significant support: Team Spirit. They were the champions of the 2023 edition and later won The International 2023. The CIS team has also won a Tier 1 tournament this year by defeating Xtreme Gaming in one of the most exciting finals of 2024.
Team Spirit has been improving, but their lack of participation in recent tournaments due to failure to qualify makes their chances slightly lower than those of the other favorites.