The organizers of Riyadh Masters 2023 have announced all the participants of the upcoming Dota 2 championship. The Saudi Cybersport Federation confirmed the leaked list of teams that will take part in the event.
The event will feature Virtus.pro, 9 Pandas, OG, Team Aster, Quest Esports, beastcoast, TSM, Execration, Team Liquid, Entity Gaming, Team Secret and Xtreme Gaming in the Play-In stage. These teams received invitations based on the ESL tournament operator's rankings, with Ammar ATF Al-Assaf's squad being the winner of the qualification for MENA countries.
Gaimin Gladiators, PSG.LGD, Tundra Esports, Evil Geniuses, Shopify Rebellion and Talon Esports will play in the main stage of Riyadh Masters 2023, as they have performed well in the past two DreamLeague seasons (19th and 20th).
First, the 12 teams in the Play-In will determine the eight teams that will advance to the group stage, joining the eight invited teams. In the group stage, the participants will be divided into two groups of eight squads. The strongest 12 rosters will qualify for the playoffs.
A total of 20 teams will compete at Riyadh Masters 2023, 11 of which are invited to the Play-In stage based on ESL rankings. Recall, the organizers have moved the date of the championship - it will be held from July 19 to 30. The prize pool is $15 million dollars, five million of which will be awarded to the winner.
Note that the prize pool for The International 11, where Tundra Esports became the champion, was almost $19 million dollars. After the Riyadh Masters 2023, Valve will hold The International 12 in October 2023.