Gigabyte Dota Masters heads into playoffs

After over a month of Dota 2 action from Asia, the Gigabyte Dota Masters is ready to head into the playoff stages.



Throughout the group stage, we've seen new and upcoming teams beating the odds, while established names faltered in the early stages. Some of the best matches were played during this period. Let's take a look at some of the numbers from the group stages.



In group A, the newly reformed EHOME did not disappoint, as the beat all their opponents. Due to a three-way tie between Aeon, DK and Absolute Legends, a tiebreaker was played out with Aeon coming up on top. placing them in second, followed by DK and aL. Fan favorite MiTh.Trust could not live up to expectations and thus were eliminated along with Art-Gaming.

Due to another three-way tie happening in Group B during the tiebreaker matches, time ratings were taken into account, and with Orange and LGD having the better ratings, they took first and second place respectively in group B. Third place went to the Malaysian powerhouse team MUFC, and finally iG - who were invited to The International invite - had to settle for fourth place. The two teams eliminated from group B are Space Monkeys and StarsBoba.

Over in group C, a newly formed Malaysian team, ICE, managed to surprise everyone by beating the likes of TongFu, Mineski and Dreamz to go 5-0 in their group. TongFu took second place with a 4-1 score, while Australian team Big Plays and the Singaporean team Giggles took third and fourth respectively. The Philippine hope in Mineski and Dreamz did not manage to perform and will thus be eliminated.

One of the latest teams to be invited to The International, Zenith, managed to show why they got the invite with a convincing 5-0 victory in their group. World Elite managed to win their tiebreaker match and took take second place. The lone Kiwi team, Sequential Gaming, took third while Malaysia's Invasion Red took fourth. Packing their bags home are Duskbin and Neolution eSports whom failed to perform as well as expected.

First and second place of the group will head into the winner's bracket of the playoff while third and fourth place will start in the loser's bracket.



Right off the bat we get to see arguably two of the best Chinese teams going head to head in round one of the playoff series making for one exciting match. Team ICE will be put to the test by being matched up against World Elite. Only time will tell if they can continue their winning streak from the group stage.

Next up is the classic Malaysia vs Singapore matchup between Orange and Aeon. Having beaten DK two times in three encounters, Aeon's strength cannot be underestimated. And having beaten EHOME and DK in a very convincing manner in previous encounter after Loda joined the team, Zenith is poised to take down TongFu in a similar fashion.

Over in the loser's bracket, it is the battle of the teams invited to The International, with DK going up against iG. Big Plays, the team from down under, will be looking to make their mark having been matched up against Invasion Red, which will be no easy feat. A repeat of an old rivalry, with two win a piece, both aL and MUFC will be out to settle the score as to who is the better team. Finally, the New Zealanders will be going up against Giggles in the last match of the loser's bracket.