Dota 2 Bali Major Group Stage day 1: Gaimin Gladiators, Liquid, Aster lead the pack

Competition in the Bali Major is already looking fierce, as seven teams finished with a 3-1 record after the opening day of the Group Stage.

Kurt Lozano
·Contributing Editor
Updated ·4 min read
The opening day of the Dota 2 Bali Major ended with seven teams atop the standings with a 3-1 record, including Gaimin Gladiators, Team Liquid, and Team Aster. Pictured: Team Aster SumaiL, Gaimin Gladiators tOfu, Team Liquid Nisha. (Photos: Team Aster, Gaimin Gladiators, Team Liquid, Epulze)
The opening day of the Dota 2 Bali Major ended with seven teams atop the standings with a 3-1 record, including Gaimin Gladiators, Team Liquid, and Team Aster. Pictured: Team Aster SumaiL, Gaimin Gladiators tOfu, Team Liquid Nisha. (Photos: Team Aster, Gaimin Gladiators, Team Liquid, Epulze)

The Dota 2 Bali Major, the third and final Major of the 2023 Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) season, has finally begun.

The competition is kicking off with the Group Stage, taking place from 29 June to 3 July, where the 18 competing teams have been split into two groups of nine teams each and will battle to be among the 12 squads advancing to the Playoffs.

Even if it is only the first day of the Major, the competition is already intense.

Case in point: game one of two-time Major champions Gaimin Gladiators and Quest Esports. In what ended up being the third-longest game in all of pro Dota, Quest outlasted Gaimin Gladiators in a rollercoaster, 136-minute marathon.

That Gaimin Gladiators-Quest match ended up being a 1-1 tie, meaning both teams were among the seven squads that finished day one atop the standings with a 3-1 record.

The other teams with 3-1 records include powerhouses like Western Europe's Team Liquid as well as Team Aster, PSG.LGD, and Azure Ray from China.

Rounding out that group is, and we don't think anyone could've guessed it, North America's Nouns Esports.

The upstart squad notably drew against PSG.LGD and pulled off a 2-0 upset over South America's top dogs, Evil Geniuses (EG).

With the day's results, Group B is looking to be a bloodbath. Gaimin Gladiators, Quest, PSG.LGD, Azure Ray, and Nouns are in a five-way tie for first place. BetBoom Team managed a 1-1 record while 9Pandas (0-2), EG (0-4), and Bleed Esports (0-4) sit at the bottom winless.

Group A is also looking to competitive. With Liquid and Aster tied for first place, there is another five-way tie for second place between Beastcoast, Invictus Gaming, Shopify Rebellion, Team Spirit, and Tundra Esports, who all had 2-2 records.

Meanwhile, the Southeast Asian teams suffered a horrendous start on their home turf. With Bleed going 0-4 in Group B, Blacklist International and Execration sit at the bottom of Group A with 0-2 records apiece.

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

Group A:

  • Team Liquid 1-1 Shopify Rebellion

  • Tundra Esports 1-1 Beastcoast

  • Team Spirit 1-1 Team Aster

  • Invictus Gaming 2-0 Execration

  • Tundra Esports 1-1 Team Spirit

  • Shopify Rebellion 1-1 Beastcoast

  • Team Aster 2-0 Invictus Gaming

  • Team Liquid 2-0 Blacklist International

Group B:

  • Bleed Esports 0-2 Quest Esports

  • PSG.LGD 1-1 Nouns Esports

  • Evil Geniuses 0-2 Azure Ray

  • Gaimin Gladiators 2-0 9 Pandas

  • PSG.LGD 2-0 Bleed Esports

  • Evil Geniuses 0-2 Nouns Esports

  • Gaimin Gladiators 0-0 Quest Esports

  • BetBoom Team 1-1 Azure Ray

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

Group A:

  1. Team Liquid: 3-1

  2. Team Aster: 3-1

  3. Beastcoast: 2-2

  4. Invictus Gaming: 2-2

  5. Shopify Rebellion: 2-2

  6. Team Spirit: 2-2

  7. Tundra Esports: 2-2

  8. Blacklist International: 0-2

  9. Execration: 0-2

Group B:

  1. Gaimin Gladiators: 3-1

  2. Quest Esports: 3-1

  3. PSG.LGD: 3-1

  4. Azure Ray: 3-1

  5. Nouns Esportrs: 3-1

  6. BetBoom Team: 1-1

  7. 9Pandas: 0-2

  8. Bleed Esports: 0-4

  9. Evil Geniuses: 0-4

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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