Blacklist Rivalry and Heroic’s Riyadh Masters 2024 journey ends in the groups

Group A, vastly regarded as the group of death at Riyadh Masters 2024, ended with pretty much the expected results.

^{headline picture credits: Adela Sznajder|ESL}

Team Falcons, Team Spirit, Gaimin Gladiators and OG proved for the past five days in Riyadh why Group A was by far the most stacked. The four aforementioned squads have already secured an upper bracket start in the playoffs and will return to the stage next week, on Tuesday, July 16.

Falcons made one of the most impressive recoveries through the group play to bounce back from a 0-4 game record, bottom of the group, on Day 1 to end as the top seed of Group A.

Falcons full recovery

Riyadh Masters 2024 marked the first time ever since their formation when Falcons experienced four straight losses. The first day in the groups closed on a worrisome note for the team that came into the tournament as the main favourites. They are also the hometown heroes in Riyadh, so the expectations are extremely high for them. After a botched debut on the first day, Falcons took clean victories over Heroic, Blacklist Rivalry, Aurora and LGD to secure an upper-bracket slot in the playoffs.

However, moving into the next stage of the tournament it will be interesting to see what kind of adjustments they deem necessary against the teams that took them down 0-2. Falcons’ losses came at the hands of Team Spirit and Gamin Gladiators, who are also through with an upper bracket seed secured.

Heroic and Blacklist Rivalry bow out

Heroic had the exact opposite experience than Falcons in Riyadh. They reached the group stage after a nearly perfect run in the play-in stage, finishing first in their group, and continued with strong performances on the first day of the group stage of the main event, delivering a big upset by taking down 2-0 Gamin Gladiators and getting a draw score versus Team Spirit. But through the next couple of days in the group play, the SA team dropped 0-2 to Falcons, to OG and to Aurora, which was enough to send them home in 13th-14th place.

Both Southeast Asia teams, Aurora and Blacklist Rivalry, got seeded in Group A.after they made it to the groups via play-in matches.

In the play-ins, BLR placed second in their group with an overall 7-3 performance. However, the next tournament stage proved to be another kind of beast to tame and a much tougher challenge. They exit the tournament at the very bottom of Group A with a 5-9 game score, which places them 15-16th at the Riyadh Masters 2024 Dota 2 tournament at the inaugural edition of Esports World Cup.

Aurora will remain the only team to carry the SEA flag in the playoffs, but after surviving the group of death, they have another tough challenge ahead as they will play the rest of the tournament from the lower bracket rounds.

Riyadh Masters 2024 prize pool and Club Championship points distribution