20 teams head to Riyadh Masters, set to begin on July 19th in Saudia Arabia and boasting a prize pool to rival TI of $15 million.
Last year PSG.LGD claimed Riyadh Masters championship title but the event had 'only' cool $4 million up for grabs.
This year, Riyadh Masters has had much hype among the teams. Spots are almost as coveted as the legendary International invites. Touting the $15 million prize pool, it could potentially even dwarf this year's TI prize pool. The International 2022 prize pool was just over $18 million, and there is no battle pass this year.
Gaimin Gladiators easily secured their place with their back-to-back championship wins in DreamLeague Season 19 and then Season 20. BetBoom Team seized theirs with a second-place finish in DreamLeague Season 20.
Quest Esports landed their spot when they overwhelmed Team Secret ME, a middle east roster put together by Team Secret’s captain, Clement "Puppey" Ivanov 3:0 in the grand finals of the Riyadh Masters 2023 MENA Qualifier.
Six other teams were able to secure a ticket via the DreamLeague Average Placement. The remaining was through the EPT ranking system.
EPT rankings for each region can be found on the official ESL Pro Tour website HERE.
Riyadh Masters 2023 Teams
Riyadh Masters 2023 format
- Eight teams are seeded into the group stage
- One team from DreamLeague Season 19
- Two teams from DreamLeague Season 20
- Top five average placed teams from DreamLeague Season 19 and 20
- Twelve teams are seeded into play-in
- Eleven teams based on the EPT Ranking System
- Each of the six regions will have at least one team
- One team from a MENA qualifier
Play-in stage, July 19-20
- Two groups of six teams each
- Single round-robin
- All matches are Bo2
- Top two teams from each group advance to the group stage
- 3rd to 6th place team from each group will be matched 3rd vs 6th, 4th vs 5th, matches are played from opposite groups
- Winners will advance to group stage
- Losers are eliminated
Group stage, July 21-24
- Two groups of eight teams each
- Single round-robin
- All matches are Bo2
- Top four teams from each group advance to the upper bracket of the playoffs
- 5th and 6th place teams from each group advance to the lower bracket of the playoffs
- Remaining teams are eliminated
Playoffs July 26-30
- Double-elimination bracket
- All matches except Grand Final are Bo3
- Grand Final is Bo5
Riyadh Masters 2023 prize pool distribution:
- 1st place: $5,000,000
- 2nd place: $2,500,000
- 3rd place: $1,700,000
- 4th place: $1,200,000
- 5th-6th place: $800,000
- 7th-8th place: $500,000
- 9th-12th place: $300,000
- 13th-14th place: $200,000
- 15th-16th place: $100,000
- 17th-18th place: $50,000
- 19th-20th place: $50,000
