Week three of the 2024 Esports World Cup marked the end of the DOTA 2 Masters. A mainstay of the tournament through its early stages crowing the Gamin Gladiators as the champions. Additionally, we saw the introduction of the PUBG Mobile World Cup and the conclusion of the Counter-Strike 2 competition where Natus Vincere emerged victorious.
DOTA 2
In last week's Group Stage, the Gamin Gladiators struggled. They finished with an 8 and 6 record, tied for the worst win percentage of any team to qualify for the Playoff Stage. However, in the Playoff Stage, they would flip a switch and go on a tear. They would go a total of 6 and 1, dropping a single game in their set against the red hot Team Falcons. This performance would earn them first place in the upper bracket and a spot in the Grand Final. In the lower bracket, Team Liquid would take advantage of the easier path the second place finish in the upper bracket gave them. This path ended with them defeating Team Falcons 2 to 0 to advance to the Grand Final. However, just as was the case when the two teams faced earlier in the Playoff Stage, Team Liquid was no match for Gamin Gladiators. After three matches, the Gladiators would finish 3 0 sweep claiming their first tournament victory.
PUBG World Cup
The PUBG Mobile World Cup conducted its Group Stage this week and the Yoodo Alliance took pole position. In their two matches, the Yoodo Alliance scored a total of 122 points, 16 more than second place and 28 more than third. Additionally, in the red vs yellow group match Yoodo clocked 80 points which would’ve been good for 8th place by itself. In addition to Yoodo Alliance, Tianba had a very strong outing finishing in second place both overall and in each of their two group matches. Then rounding out our top three, 4merical Vibes is the only club outside of Tianba to finish both their both their Group Stage matches with more than 45 points. In addition to these three teams, nine others have qualified for the Main Stage. Next week, however, will start with the Survival Stage where 16 teams will battle for the last 4 spots in the Main Stage series.
Counter-Strike 2
Natus Vincere started the CS2 tournament off hot in the Round of 14 defeating Furia in a swift 2 games to 0. In the Finals Bracket, Natus Vincere would continue rolling defeating Faze Clan 2 to 0 as well. Their flawless streak would end there, however, as they would drop a game to Mouz before prevailing 2 to 1 in the set. In the finals, Natus Vincere would face G2 Esports, who had only lost one match throughout the tournament. In the end though, Natus Vincere would overwhelm G2 Esports claiming the 2 to 1 series victory and the Counter-Strike 2 crown.
After three weeks of action, Team Falcons remain the top team with a combined 2950 points. Team Liquid jumps into second place with 1150 points followed by Natus Vincere at 1110. Next week, we will see the next stage in the PUBG Mobile World Cup. Additionally, the MLBB women's tournament kicks off alongside the 2024 Overwatch 2 tournament. For more information, and the schedule of the events go to the Esports World Cup website. With 3 weeks down the battle for first is well underway but there are still many twists and turns to come.