Riyadh Masters 2022: All About the $4 Million Tournament!
Maksym ShylovThe Gamers Without Borderscharity qualifiersturned into something really bigger - the teams made it to theRiyadh Masters 2022- the LAN championship in Saudi Arabia.
9 top teams and the average Deboosters will compete for a prize pool of $4,000,000.
Many teams can make substitutions, there is information about 4 changes in the teams at once - the legendary Ana can return!
Riyadh Masters 2022 will take place from 20 to 24 July; 10 teams in the fight for the main prize - $1,500,000. By the way, at the Major there are more than 7 times less for the first place, the teams must give their best.
Possible replacements for Riyadh Masters 2022:
- Daxak will replace 33 in Tundra Esports (confirmation required)
- Ana will play for Team Liquid instead of MATUMBAMAN (confirmation required)
- Super will replace Ghost in Royal Never Give Up (needs confirmation)
- Malik will replace Funn1k in the Deboosters roster
Group stage:
- Group "A":
Nigma Galaxy |
OG |
Royal Never Give Up |
Team Liquid |
Team SoloMid |
- Group "B":
PSG.LGD |
Team Spirit |
Tundra Esports |
Team Secret |
Deboosters |
Thoughts on favorites and underdogs:
In group "A" everything is very incomprehensible, Nigma Galaxy looks great, but against the backdrop of the second division of Western Europe. On LAN, the magic of KuroKy & company will definitely be present. There, types time Relocate and Hook from Pudge so that IO always stays and does not fly away.
TSM got in good shape, although they will miss the Major, they are already 100% at The International. You can just relax and play for fun, without pressure, as Saberlight did on Enigma against Wildcard Gaming.
RNG at the Major, it doesn't make much sense for them to sweat here, just try something that they had doubts about, they should definitely go out of the group, maybe even the semi-finals, but this BO2 format can ruin.
OG after 0:4 from Team Liquid is very disappointing, they are 100% in The International, they have gone to the Major, every day I believe more in the magic of Ceb + N0tail than Misha + Chuvash. Just think about it, Ceb and N0tail dragged OG through The International already after a successful Major.
Team Liquid is a very strong and formidable opponent for everyone in this tournament, I expect them in the final against PSG.LGD, the championship is not really important before the Major, but they are straight - WOW! There are no special questions about RNG and Team Liquid, it's just to understand who is third in the playoffs: between OG/Nigma Galaxy and TSM, I would stomp for OG, but this is the last time.
Total: RNG, Team Liquid and OG will go to the playoffs; TSM and Nigma Galaxy are out!
In group "B", on the contrary, everything is very clear, for me there are 2 obvious outsiders: Deboosters and Team Secret, no matter how I drown for Nisha, but it's hard to win when you have a trio of iceiceice and carry Crystallis, how Entity won them - it's a shock, but there 3 seconds on Black King Bar was not enough for Crystallis on Terrorblade when Necrophos died after a buyback, but traded with TB because of these couple of seconds.
Tundra will probably be without 33, a key player in the team, Daxak will not replace him 100%, but they definitely have some similarities, does Daxak know how to farm greedily, definitely - yes, according to the idea, the pool of heroes with Visage, Doom and so on you can play. No, Tundra is in the playoffs for sure. PSG.LGD undisputed top 1 in group "B", what shape they got at the end of the season + missed international tournaments. Team Spirit - they play, to put it mildly, disgusting, Monkey King from YATOROGOD in the key battle throws himself out of the tree due to Spider Legs and dies without a buyback. Perhaps it will be easier for them at such chill tournaments, but at the playoff stage I would definitely not consider them favorites, the group will fly by purely due to no Team Secret and Deboosters.
Total: PSG.LGD, Tundra Espors and Team Spirit will advance to the playoffs; Deboosters and Team Secret are out!
The group stage format is as follows:
- 2 groups of 5 teams each
- The best team advances to the semi-finals
- 2nd-3rd place in the quarterfinals, the rest are eliminated
- Matches in the format - best of 2
Playoffs:
- Conducting system - single elimination (relegation)
- All matches - best of 3
The distribution of the prize pool is as follows:
- 1st place: $1,500,000
- 2nd place: $750,000
- 3rd-4th place: $425,000 each
- 5th-6th place: $200,000 each
- 7th-8th place: $150,000 each
- 9th-10th place: $100,000 each
List of participants
- PSG.LGD (direct invite)
- Team Secret (direct invite)
- Team Spirit (direct invite)
- OG (direct invite)
- Tundra Esports (direct invite)
- Nigma Galaxy (direct invite)
- Team SoloMid (direct invite)
- Team Liquid (passed through qualifiers in Europe)
- Royal Never Give Up (qualified in Asia)
- Deboosters (qualified in Saudi Arabia)
Maksym has been working at EGamersWorld since 2017. Joining the company during his first year at university, he worked as a translator until 2022. After that, Maksym began working as an editor. His main discipline is Dota 2, and over time, Maksym's responsibilities expanded to include CS:GO, CS2 and Valorant. Additionally, as an editor, he publishes various materials on gaming topics.