Shopify Rebellion and Team Spirit advanced to the upper-bracket final at DreamLeague Season 21 on Thursday.
Shopify rallied past BetBoom Team 2-1 and Team Spirit swept Tundra Esports 2-0, one day after they won their respective groups in the Group Stage.
Meanwhile, Gaimin Gladiators defeated Quest Esports 2-0 in a Group B tiebreaker Thursday that slotted Gaimin Gladiators into the playoffs’ lower bracket and knocked Quest out of the competition.
Twelve teams from around the world are competing at the $1 million DreamLeague Season 21 event. The group stage ran Monday through Wednesday with two round-robin groups of six teams. The top two teams from each group advanced to the upper bracket of the playoffs, the third- and fourth-place teams advanced to the lower bracket and the rest were eliminated.
The playoffs run Thursday through Sunday in a double-elimination bracket. All matches are best-of-three until the grand final, which is best-of-five.
On Thursday, BetBoom opened its match with a 44-minute win on green before Shopify answered with a 33-minute win on red. In the deciding match, Shopify needed 53 minutes while playing on green to knock off BetBoom. Canadian-Uzbek player Artour “Arteezy” Babaev had 10 kills and nine assists on the final map to fuel Shopify.
Team Spirit took care of Tundra with wins on red in 48 minutes and on green in 45 minutes. Magomed “Collapse” Khalilov of Russia averaged a 13.0-1.5-13.0 kills-deaths-assists ratio for Spirit.
In the Group B tiebreaker, Gaimin Gladiators topped Quest, winning in 33 minutes and 31 minutes, both times on green. Marcus “Ace” Hoelgaard Christensen of Denmark averaged a 6.5-3.0-12.5 K-D-A to power Gladiators.
Action continues Thursday with three matches:
–Entity vs. Gaimin Gladiators (lower-bracket Round 1)
–OG vs. 9Pandas (lower-bracket Round 1)
–BetBoom Team vs. Entity-Gaimin Gladiators winner (lower-bracket quarterfinals)
DreamLeague Season 21 prize pool:
1. $300,000
2. $175,000
3. $120,000
4. $85,000
5-6. $57,500
7-8. $47,500
9-10. $30,000 — Team Liquid, Evil Geniuses
11-12. $25,000 — Talon Esports, Quest Esports
–Field Level Media
