Dota 2 Arlington Major Day 1: Spirit, Aster start Group Stage perfect

The Dota 2 PGL Arlington Major has finally kicked off, with 17 of the best teams in the world beginning their campaign for the lion's share of the US$500,000 prize pool and 4,570 DPC point pool.

There's a lot at stake for many teams at Arlington, as this will be their last chance to earn DPC points to help them secure a coveted direct invite to The International 11 (TI11).

The Arlington Major begins with the Group Stage, featuring the 17 teams divided into two groups battling through a round-robin format where all matches will be a best-of-two. Group A will feature nine teams while group B will feature eight.

At the end of the Group Stage, the Top 4 teams in each group will advance to the upper bracket of the Main Event.

While the fifth and sixth-placed teams of each group will still advance to the Main Event, they will have to start in the first round of the lower bracket.

Meanwhile, the remaining teams of each group will be eliminated.

TI10 champions Team Spirit and Chinese powerhouse Team Aster had a perfect start to the group stage, sweeping their first two matches to top Group B with a 4-0 record apiece.

Team Liquid sit atop the standings in Group A with a 3-1 record after they swept Soniqs Esports (formerly Quincy Crew) and tied with Stockholm Major champions OG.

There's also a four-way tie in Group A, as OG, Southeast Asia's Fnatic, Eastern Europe's Outsiders, and China's Royal Never Give Up all finished the first day of the Group Stage with 2-2 records.

Fnatic notably did this with three stand-ins from TSM FTX after three of their players encountered visa issues, leaving only Anucha "Jabz" Jirawong and Djardel "DJ" Mampusti able to compete in the Major.

Meanwhile, two teams went winless to start their campaign in Arlington: hometown team Evil Geniuses (EG) and South America's Beastcoast. EG got soundly swept by Team Aster and BOOM Esports while Beastcoast was routed by Team Spirit and Natus Vincere.

While it's still just the first day of the Major, we can already see which teams are emerging as contenders and the ones that may make an early exit.

Arlington Major Day 1 results:

• Team Liquid 2-0 Soniqs Esports

• Royal Never Give Up 1-1 Outsiders

• OG 1-1 Fnatic

• PSG.LGD 2-0 Talon Esports

• Evil Geniuses 0-2 Team Aster

• Tundra Esports 1-1 BOOM Esports

• Natus Vincere 2-0 Entity

• Team Spirit 2-0 Beastcoast

• OG 1-1 Team Liquid

• Outsiders 1-1 Fnatic

• Thunder Awaken 1-1 Talon Esports

• Royal Never Give Up 1-1 Soniqs Esports

• Team Aster 2-0 Entity

• Evil Geniuses 0-2 BOOM Esports

• Team Spirit 2-0 Tundra Esports

• Natus Vincere 2-0 Beastcoast

Here are the standings after Day 1 of the Arlington Major Group Stage:

Group A:

1. Team Liquid: 3W, 1L

2. Fnatic: 2W, 2L

3. PSG.LGD: 2W, 0L

4. OG: 2W, 2L

5. Outsiders: 2W, 2L

6. Royal Never Give Up: 2W, 2L

7. Thunder Awaken: 1W, 1L

8. Soniqs Esports: 1W, 3L

9. Talon Esports: 1W, 3L

Group B:

1. Team Spirit: 4W, 0L

2. Team Aster: 4W, 0L

3. BOOM Esports: 3W, 1L

4. Entity: 2W, 2L

5. Natus Vincere: 2W, 2L

6. Tundra Esports: 1W, 3L

7. Beastcoast: 0W, 4L

8. Evil Geniuses: 0W, 4L

The Arlington Major is the second and final Dota 2 Major of the 2021-2022 Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) season.

The tournament features 17 of the best Dota 2 teams in the world fighting for their slice of the US$500,000 prize pool and 4,570 DPC point pool.

More importantly, the Arlington Major is the last chance for teams to secure a coveted direct invite to TI11, Dota 2's marquee million-dollar world championship tournament.

For everything you need to know about the Arlington Major, check here.

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