Dota 2 Bali Major Group Stage day 4: EG out as Liquid, Quest, Gaimin in upper bracket

Western Europe continues to prove itself the strongest region in Dota 2 as three heavyweights from the region were the first to qualify for the Dota 2 Bali Major Playoffs after the fourth day of its Group Stage.

Two-time Major champions Gaimin Gladiators and rivals Team Liquid, as the finalists of the last two Majors, are unsurprisingly among the first batch of Playoff-bound teams at Bali. But what is surprising is that upstarts Quest Esports have seemingly come out of nowhere to bag the best record of the Group Stage so far en route to the Playoffs.

Liquid lock up first seed of Group A

After racking up a 10-2 record through the first three days of the Group Stage, Liquid comfortably locked up the first seed of Group A after day four.

They only played one match today, a 1-1 draw with The International 2022 (TI 2022) champions Tundra Esports, to get their record to 11-3. Liquid's last match of the Group Stage in day five will be against surging South American squad Beastcoast.

While Liquid is sitting comfortably atop the standings, the rest of Group A is still in flux.

The group's remaining three spots in the upper bracket are currently occuppied by Tundra, Beastcoast, and China's Team Aster, who are all tied at 9-5.

TI 2021 champions Team Spirit (8-6) and North American powerhouse Shopify Rebellion (6-10) are still in position to make the Playoffs, though they will have to settle for a lower bracket start unless things go their way in day five.

Meanwhile, China's Invictus Gaming as well as Southeast Asian squads Blacklist International and Execration have all only managed a 4-10 record and are sitting at the bottom of the standings.

Those three squads still have a chance to force tiebreakers for the lower bracket Playoff spots, though it will be an uphill battle.

Invictus Gaming and Blacklist International will face off in day five while Execration will go up against Spirit. Should any of the three bottom teams win their match 2-0, they will be able to force a tiebreaker with Shopify Rebellion for the last Playoff spot of Group A. Otherwise, their runs in Bali will unfortunately come to an early end.

Quest, Gaimin Gladiators claim top two at Group B

While things are certainly chaotic in Group A, the competition in Group B is more settled by comparison.

Quest claimed the top spot of Group B with a 12-2 record through day four, best among all teams in the Group Stage. The Western European upstarts ran through a gauntlet of Eastern European opponents to secure their Playoff spot, sweeping BetBoom Team and drawing with 9Pandas.

While many will credit Quest's star offlaner, Ammar "ATF" Al-Assaf, for bringing his valuable experience as a Major champion to the rookie squad, their success so far has certainly been the result of a group effort. Kazakh carry Aybek "TA2000" Tokayev and Lebanese midlaner Tony "No!ob" Assaf certainly deserve their flowers for their outstanding play so far.

Meanwhile, Gaimin Gladiators' campaign for a third-straight Major title is still looking on track as they earned an upper bracket berth as the second seed of Group B. They hold a 10-4 record through day four after sweeping North America's Nouns Esports and taking a surprising 1-1 draw against bottom feeder Evil Geniuses.

BetBoom and Chinese powerhouse PSG.LGD occupy the remaining two upper bracket spots with 8-6 records apiece. However, Southeast Asia's Bleed Esports are nipping on their heels with a 7-7 line.

Bleed have notably completed an incredible comeback to get in contention for the upper bracket after a horrid 0-4 start in day one. In day four, they drew with Evil Geniuses before scoring a huge 2-0 sweep over BetBoom.

Bleed are now practically locked for the Playoffs with a 7-7 record, a much-needed boon for a Southeast Asian contingent that have struggled on their home turf. They will need to sweep their last match against 9Pandas and hope either one of BetBoom or PSG.LGD stumble to earn a shot at the upper bracket.

On the Playoff bubble are 9Pandas (6-8), Nouns Esports (5-9), and China's Azure Ray (5-9).

Finally, South America's Evil Geniuses were the first team to be eliminated. Despite a solid 2-2 outing in day four, they could not overcome the 1-11 hole they dug themselves in through the first three days of the Group Stage.

It's a hugely disappointing result for South America's top dogs, especially when considering they finished in the Top 6 at the Lima Major and the Top 4 at the Berlin Major.

Here are the results for all the matches in day four of the Bali Major Group Stage:

Group A:

• Beastcoast 2-0 Invictus Gaming

• Tundra Esports 1-1 Execration

• Team Aster 2-0 Blacklist International

• Team Spirit 2-0 Shopify Rebellion

• Shopify Rebellion 2-0 Invictus Gaming

• Team Liquid 1-1 Tundra Esports

• Team Aster 2-0 Execration

• Team Spirit 1-1 Blacklist International

Group B:

• Quest Esports 2-0 BetBoom Team

• PSG.LGD 2-0 9Pandas

• Gaimin Gladiators 2-0 Nouns Esports

• Bleed Esports 1-1 Evil Geniuses

• PSG.LGD 1-1 Azure Ray

• Quest Esports 1-1 9Pandas

• BetBoom Team 0-2 Bleed Esports

• Gaimin Gladiators 1-1 Evil Geniuses

Here are the standings after day four of the Bali Major Group Stage:

Group A:

1. Team Liquid: 11-3

2. Tundra Esports: 9-5

3. Beastcoast: 9-5

4. Team Aster: 9-5

5. Team Spirit: 8-6

6. Shopify Rebellion: 6-10

7. Invictus Gaming: 4-10

8. Blacklist International: 4-10

9. Execration: 4-10

Group B:

1. Quest Esports: 12-2

2. Gaimin Gladiators: 10-4

3. BetBoom Team: 8-6

4. PSG.LGD: 8-6

5. Bleed Esports: 7-7

6. 9Pandas: 6-8

7. Azure Ray: 5-9

8. Nouns Esports: 5-9

9. Evil Geniuses: 3-13

The Bali Major is split into two stages. The first is the Group Stage, taking place from 29 June to 3 July, and the second is the Playoffs, set for 5 to 9 July.

The Bali Major Group Stage will see the 18 participating teams split into two groups of nine teams each. They will then compete in a single round-robin featuring best-of-two matches to determine which teams will advance to the Playoffs.

Six out of the nine teams in each group will earn Playoff spots. The Top 4 teams of each group will advance to the upper bracket while the fifth and sixth-placed teams will have to start from the lower bracket.

Meanwhile, the bottom three teams in each group will be eliminated early.

The Bali Major Playoffs 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.

While the competing teams in Bali are fighting for their cut of the US$500,000 prize pool, they have their eyes set on a share of the 3,500 DPC point pool.

Those DPC points will go towards securing all-important direct invites to The International (TI) 2023, this year's iteration of Dota 2's annual multi-million dollar world championship tournament that will be held in Seattle this October.

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

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