With the Swiss Stage, Round Robin stage and a round of tiebreakers all being done and dusted, Elite League is down to the top 8 teams heading into the playoffs.
A total of 24 teams from around the world entered the battle for the Elite League championship title on the 31st of March. Eight had their tournament run cut short in the Swiss Stage and eight more fell short of a playoffs spot at the end of the round-robin stage.
Perhaps the biggest surprises came with The International 2023 Champions, Team Spirit being one of the first teams that got eliminated in the Round Robin brawl. The other Eastern European contender team, BetBoom didn’t make it out of the groups either, which leaves the region with no representative in the playoffs.
Southeast Asia has also lost both its teams in the round-robin groups. Aurora and Blacklist Rivalry were both seeded in group B and both failed to make it to the playoffs.
China, Western Europe and MENA regions make the playoffs bracket. To no one’s surprise, Team Falcons have one again displayed full domination and took the top seed of Group A. They are joined in the upper bracket playoffs by Team Liquid, who placed at the top of Group B and by the two Chinese representatives Azure Ray and Xtreme Gaming, who placed second in their respective groups.
Gaimin Gladiators, Tundra Esports, G2.iG and PSG.Quest will start the playoffs battle from the lower bracket and will fight for their tournament lives from the get-go.
Elite League playoffs stage starts this coming Friday, April 12 and will run until the end of the week, when the tournament champions will be crowned. Elite League is very likely to be the last tournament played on the 7.35 patch as the entire Dota 2 community looks forward to the “mid-April” estimated time for the new patch and the arrival of the new hero, Ringmaster!