Dota 2 BetBoom Dacha Dubai: Falcons advance to Grand Finals, BetBoom and Liquid to face off in lower bracket finals
Meanwhile, Azure Ray bowed out of the tournament in fourth place and with US$60,000 in consolation.
Only three teams remain standing after the penultimate day of the Dota 2 BetBoom Dacha Dubai 2024 Playoffs. Team Falcons, BetBoom Team, and Team Liquid.
Team Falcons defeated BetBoom Team in the upper bracket finals to knock their opponents down to the lower bracket finals and become the first team in the Grand Finals. Meanwhile, Team Liquid soundly swept Azure Ray in the lower bracket semifinals to face BetBoom Team in the lower bracket finals.
Here's how all the matches in day five of the BetBoom Dacha Dubai 2024 Playoffs went down:
Team Falcons 2-1 BetBoom Team
With prior tournament favourites Team Spirit and Gaimin Gladiators bowing out early, Falcons and BetBoom stepped up to the plate and dominated the upper bracket. En route to their clash in the upper bracket finals, Falcons ran through Chinese teams Xtreme Gaming and Azure Ray while BetBoom scored back-to-back sweeps over LGD Gaming and Gaimin Gladiators.
BetBoom were the ones to strike first, running down Falcons in a 49-minute bloodbath behind excellent performances from its core trio of Egor "Nightfall" Grigorenko on Medusa, Danil "gpk" Skutin on Windranger, and Matvey "MieRo`" Vasyunin on Centaur Warrunner.
Gpk paced his team's 46-18 kill lead with 13 kills and 16 assists on three deaths, MieRo added 12 kills and 25 assists on four deaths, while Nightfall pitched in with a clean nine kills and nine assists.
Falcons were unfazed going into game two, as they outlasted BetBoom in another slugfest to force the series to a decider after 42 minutes of action. Oliver "skiter" Lepko on Weaver led the way with nine kills and 13 assists on two deaths out of his team's 30-22 kill lead while Stanislav "Malr1ne" Potorak on Puck had eight kills and 16 assists on two deaths.
The deciding game three proved to be rather anticlimactic as Falcons virtually won the series from the draft when they managed to sneak a last pick Huskar for Malr1ne through. With skiter on Sven and Ammar "ATF" Al-Assaf on Timbersaw as well, BetBoom could do little to stop their opponents from claiming the series after a 28-minute stomp.
Malr1ne and ATF paced Falcon's 16-7 kill lead in the closeout game with six kills apiece and a combined nine assists against one death on ATF. Skiter also had four kills and four assists on one death.
Team Liquid 2-0 Azure Ray
The second series of the day saw a rematch between Liquid and Azure Ray following their first encounter in the opening day of the Playoffs, where Azure Ray knocked Liquid down to the lower bracket.
In danger of elimination, Liquid flipped a switch and knocked out Xtreme Gaming and rivals Gaimin Gladiators to once again face Azure Ray in the lower bracket semifinals. This time around, Liquid had an answer for their Chinese opponents.
Liquid were firing on all cylinders to start the series, dominating Azure Ray in a 32-minute game one behind stellar showings from Michael "miCKe" Vu on Weaver and Neta "33" Shapira on his now-signature offlane Alchemist.
MiCKe paced Liquid's 30-14 kill lead in game one with 11 kills and 10 assists on two deaths while 33 had 10 kills and 10 assists on three deaths.
Game two was a similar story, as Liquid secured the series sweep in 39 minutes of action and with a 34-13 kill lead. MiCKe once again led the way for his team, this time on a carry Windranger, and put up 14 kills and 16 assists on two deaths while Michał "Nisha" Jankowski on Puck joined in on the fun with nine kills and 16 assists on two deaths.
With the day's results, Team Falcons have guaranteed themselves at least a second place finish and US$200,000 in winnings. Of course, they have their sights set on the championship and US$400,000 grand prize.
Team Liquid are also guaranteed a third place finish and US$100,000, but both them and BetBoom Team will be looking to challenge Team Falcons in the Grand Finals.
Meanwhile, Azure Ray bow out of the tournament in fourth place and with US$60,000 in consolation.
With the dissolution of the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) last year, the 2024 Dota 2 esports season will see a return to third-party tournaments being the main form of competition across the title.
BetBoom Dacha Dubai 2024 will kick off the 2024 season from 4 to 16 February in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates and will feature 12 of the best Dota 2 teams from across the world fight for the lion's share of a US$1 million prize pool.
For everything you need to know about BetBoom Dacha Dubai 2024, check here.
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