Dota 2 Bali Major Playoffs day 3: Tundra, Gaimin Gladiators get to upper bracket finals
Meanwhile, Team Liquid and Quest Esports dropped to the lower bracket while Azure Ray and Beastcoast were eliminated.
The third day of the Dota 2 Bali Major Playoffs ended with two teams being eliminated while two others advanced to the Top 3 and inched closer to the championship.
The action started in the lower bracket, where Chinese powerhouse PSG.LGD knocked out regional rivals Azure Ray before Eastern Europe's 9Pandas eliminated South America's Beastcoast.
The upper bracket then saw an all-Western European affair. The International (TI) 2022 champions Tundra Esports pulled off a 2-0 upset over Team Liquid while two-time Major champions Gaimin Gladiators defeated Quest Esports.
Here's how all the action in day 3 of the Bali Major Playoffs went down:
Lower bracket round 2
PSG.LGD 2-1 Azure Ray
The day started off with two Chinese teams battling for their tournament lives, and it was PSG.LGD who emerged victorious to fight another day at the expense of Azure Ray.
Azure Ray actually had a strong start to the series, stomping PSG.LGD to the tune of a 29-10 kill lead in 32 minutes behind an incredible performance on Clockwerk by Xu "fy" Linsen, who finished with a clean seven kills and 16 assists.
PSG.LGD were quick to bounce back in a 41-minute game two behind Guo "shiro" Xuanang's Medusa, who had 12 kills against three deaths to fuel his team's 33-24 kill lead.
With their tournament lives on the line, PSG.LGD pinned their hopes on Cheng "NothingToSay" Jin Xiang's signature Tinker pick, and boy did he deliver. NothingToSay led a dominant laning stage for PSG.LGD, who simply snowballed to a 32-minute victory.
NothingToSay finished the decider with an excellent 12 kills and 16 assists against one death to keep PSG.LGD's hopes for a Major championship in Bali alive.
9Pandas 2-1 Beastcoast
The second match of the day saw the last Eastern European team in Bali knock out the last squad from South America. After losing a hard-fought game one, 9Pandas pulled off a reverse sweep featuring back-to-back stomps to stay alive in the Bali Major.
Beastcoast looked good early in the series after they outlasted 9Pandas in an hour-long slugfest behind a standout performance on Leshrac by Gonzalo "DarkMago" Herrera, who finished with 14 kills on four deaths.
The Eastern European squad didn't seem too rattled after losing game one, as they stormed back into the match in a 36-9, 35-minute rout in game two. Matvey "MieRo`" Vasyunin on Broodmother and Vladislav "Antares" Kertman on Skywrath Mage notably had 10 kills apiece in the win.
If game two looked one-sided, then game three was an absolute stomp. 9Pandas racked up a 35-9 kill lead in just under 30 minutes of action to knock Beastcoast out of Major contention. Gleb "kiyotaka" Zyryanov on Windranger led the way with 15 kills against three deaths.
Upper bracket semifinals
Tundra Esports 2-0 Team Liquid
The third match of the day between Tundra and Liquid definitely had the most surprising result.
For one, Tundra weren't supposed to be in this position. Despite losing in the first round of the upper bracket to BetBoom Team, Tundra were the ones to advance to the semifinals due to BetBoom getting dropped to the lower bracket as a result of Ivan "Pure" Moskalenko getting caught stream-sniping during their match.
Not only that, Tundra were facing the team considered to be, at worst, the second-best in the world while playing with coach Kurtis "Aui_2000" Ling as a stand-in after Martin "Saksa" Sazdov was forced to miss the rest of the Major due to a sudden illness.
Against all odds, Tundra pulled off the only sweep of the day, and a huge upset at that.
Tundra blindsided Liquid in game one, emerging victorious in a 52-minute slugfest behind standout performances from Oliver "skiter" Lepko on Wraith King and coach-turned-stand-in Aui_2000 on Enchantress.
Skiter paced his team's 39-31 kill lead with 16 kills against three deaths while Aui_2000 pitched in with 10 kills against five deaths while being the third-most farmed player on his team despite being a support.
Liquid were looking to equalize early into game two, but Tundra were able to pull off a comeback behind a surprise Meepo pick for Leon "Nine" Kirilin, Broodmother for skiter, and Dark Seer for Neta "33" Shapira.
Despite ending game two down 23-27 in kills, Tundra completed the 2-0 upset over Liquid in 46 minutes of action. Skiter had the team-high in kills with nine on four deaths while 33 pitched in with five takedowns on five deaths.
Gaimin Gladiators 2-1 Quest Esports
The last match of the day saw two-time Major champions Gaimin Gladiators continue their campaign for a third-straight Major title by taking down Quest Esports in three games.
Gaimin Gladiators had a flying start to the series, matching an aggressive Quest lineup blow for blow while outpacing them in terms of farm. With Anton "dyrachyo" Shkredov's Naga Siren becoming too big to stop, the two-time Major champions cruised to a 39-minute victory.
Not one to go down without a fight, Quest's aggression broke through Gaimin Gladiators in a 28-minute game two rout. Aybek "TA2000" Tokayev on Juggernaut and Tony "No!ob" Assaf on a mid Tiny combined for a clean 10 kills to fuel Quest's 19-10 kill lead.
Gaimin Gladiators came back with a vengeance in game three, where they simply bulldozed through a greedy Quest draft in just 23 minutes to take the 2-1 series victory. Quinn "Quinn" Callahan stole the show on Templar Assassin, racking up 10 kills against just one death to lead his team to the upper bracket finals.
With today's results, Tundra Esports and Gaimin Gladiators have secured at least a Top 3 finish as well as US$75,000 and 550 Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) points in winnings. They will face off in the upper bracket finals on Saturday (8 July) to determine the first grand finalist of the Bali Major.
Meanwhile, Team Liquid and Quest Esports are down, but not yet out. They will next play in the lower bracket quarterfinals against 9Pandas and PSG.LGD, respectively. The latter two teams have also secured at least a Top 6 finish as well as US$25,000 and 400 DPC points in winnings.
Finally, Azure Ray and Beastcoast exit the Bali Major in 7th-8th place with US$12,500 and 300 DPC points in consolation.
The Bali Major Playoffs will take place from 5 to 10 July and 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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