Team Aster and Team Secret each recorded 2-1 wins on Thursday to advance to the upper bracket final at the $400,000 ESL One Malaysia 2022 competition in Genting Highlands.

Group A winner Team Aster defeated Fnatic after sandwiching a 33-minute victory and 42-minute triumph around a 65-minute setback.

Team Secret, in turn, toppled Group B winner OG after rebounding from a 49-minute setback in the first map. Secret bounced back with 56- and 34-minute victories to advance to Saturday’s clash against Aster.

The teams began a double-elimination playoff after completing the round robin group stage on Thursday.

Aster found themselves atop Group A following a 1-1 tie against Entity, while OG ended up atop Group B despite dropping a 2-0 decision to BOOM Esports.

Fnatic and Team Secret punched their tickets to the upper bracket after posting 1-1 ties against Nigma Galaxy and Talon Esports, respectively.

Thunder Awaken, who finished in fourth place in Group A, secured a 1-1 tie against Alliance. They will face Nigma Galaxy in a lower-bracket match on Friday.

TSM, who seized a fourth-place finish in Group B, posted a 1-1 tie against Team Liquid. They will challenge Entity in a lower-bracket match on Friday.

Two groups of six Dota 2 teams are competing in a single round robin, with all matches best-of-two. The top two teams in each group advance to the upper bracket of the playoffs and the third- and fourth-place teams go to the lower bracket. The remaining teams are eliminated.

All matches are best-of-three except for Sunday’s best-of-five grand final. The top prize is $175,000, with the runner-up taking home $85,000.

Group A standings (W-T-L plus map record):
1. Team Aster, 3-2-0, 8-2
2. Team Secret, 2-3-0, 7-3
3. Entity, 2-2-1, 6-4
4. Thunder Awaken, 1-2-2, 4-6
5. Talon Esports, 0-3-2, 3-7
6. Alliance, 0-2-3, 2-8

Group B standings:
1. OG, 3-1-1, 7-3
2. Fnatic 1-3-1, 5-5
3. Nigma Galaxy, 1-3-1, 5-5
4. TSM, 0-5-0, 5-5
5. BOOM Esports, 1-2-2, 4-6
6. Team Liquid, 0-4-1, 4-6

–Field Level Media