Team Aster and Team Spirit each won their first two matches of the PGL Arlington Major on Thursday and are tied atop the Group B standings after the first day of Dota 2 competition in Arlington, Texas.
Aster beat Evil Geniuses and Entity, while Spirit handled beastcoast and Tundra Esports. Both teams won’t keep perfect records for long, as Aster and Spirit are scheduled to meet Friday.
Meanwhile, Team Liquid took the early lead in Group A by notching a win over Soniqs and a draw with OG on Thursday.
Seventeen teams from around the world are competing for shares of a $500,000 prize pool, including a grand prize of $200,000. In the Group Stage, they were drawn into groups of nine and eight for single round robins, with all matches best-of-two.
The top four teams will qualify for the upper bracket of the playoffs, and the fifth- and sixth-place teams from each group will advance to the lower bracket. The double-elimination bracket of best-of-three matches will take place next week, with the best-of-five grand final scheduled for Aug. 14.
Aster, a team from China, beat Evil Geniuses in 37 minutes on green and 42 minutes on red. Then they faced Entity and pulled out a 47-minute win on red and a 36-minute win on green.
Spirit beat beastcoast handily, taking both rounds in 29 minutes on red, and defeated Tundra in 41 minutes and 32 minutes on red.
Liquid smoked Soniqs in 34 minutes on green and 37 minutes on red before drawing with OG. Liquid won the first round in 32 minutes on red before OG responded with a 23-minute victory, also on red.
The only other match in Group A to end 2-0 Thursday was PSG.LGD’s win over Talon Esports, in 32 minutes and 34 minutes on red. The other six matches were draws.
PGL Arlington Major Group Stage standings (match record via W-T-L, map record):
Group A
1. Team Liquid, 1-1-0, 3-1
T2. Fnatic, 0-2-0, 2-2
T2. OG, 0-2-0, 2-2
T2. Outsiders, 0-2-0, 2-2
T2. PSG.LGD, 1-0-0, 2-0
T2. Royal Never Give Up, 0-2-0, 2-2
T7. Soniqs, 0-1-1, 1-3
T7. Talon Esports, 0-1-1, 1-3
T7. Thunder Awaken, 0-1-0, 1-1
Group B
T1. Team Aster, 2-0-0, 4-0
T1. Team Spirit, 2-0-0, 4-0
3. BOOM Esports, 1-1-0, 3-1
T4. Entity, 1-0-1, 2-2
T4. Natus Vincere, 1-0-1, 2-2
6. Tundra Esports, 0-1-1, 1-3
T7. beastcoast, 0-0-2, 0-4
T7. Evil Geniuses, 0-0-2, 0-4
–Field Level Media
