Dota 2: Recap of Day 2 of the Riyadh Masters 2022

All the action from Day 2 at the Riyadh Masters 2022.

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One of the most interesting Dota 2 tournaments that are not a part of the DPC began one day ago. The Riyadh Masters 2022 includes 10 of the best teams in the world and gives them the chance to fight for a $4 million USD prize pool.

The ten teams are split into two groups. Day one allowed us to watch most of the matches from Group A and a couple of events from Group B. However, Day 2 of the event was full of epic series in both groups. So, let’s learn more about the most interesting ones.

Group A

There were a couple of big matches in Group A, but the most interesting ones involved OG. 

OG vs Liquid

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OG and Team Liquid faced each other numerous times in the last couple of months, so it wasn’t surprising that both teams knew what to expect. Even though Liquid was one of the few teams in Western Europe that defeated OG before, ana and the rest lost this series.

Bozhidar “bzm” Bogdanov and the rest had no problems in both games and did not allow Team Liquid to take advantage of their drafts. Speaking of the devil, OG used DK, Phoenix, and Bane in both of their games. The team picked bzm’s signature Pangolier in the first map and Void Spirit in the second one.

Liquid tried to use some of their best heroes, but the team was unable to deal with the aggression from the ESL One Stockholm 2022 champs. This loss was crucial for ana and the rest because Team Liquid is not officially last in Group A. Hence, the team won’t be able to take part in the playoffs.

OG vs Nigma Galaxy

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Following OG’s victory, bzm and co. had to go up against one of the best teams regarding LAN events. The winners of Division II in Eastern Europe defeated TSM before this match, so they were eager to claim another victory.

Game 1

NGX had a good draft in game one, but the team made tons of mistakes that prevented them from winning the match. Instead of focusing on the mid and offlane, the team paid too much attention to Ammar “ATF” Al-Assaf’s Timbersaw. 

Despite the many ganks and attempts to kill him, Ammar stood firm and slowly became one of the strongest heroes in the game. Needless to say, this attention allowed the rest of his team to thrive.

Once the laning stage was over, Nigma.Galaxy started forcing team fights they could not win. OG always had better positioning, and their heroes were much stronger. Consequently, Syed “SumaiL” Hassan and the rest lost the match.

Game 2

Despite OG’s dominant performance in the first game of the series, the team failed to live up to the expectations in game 2. Bzm had the chance to use Invoker (one of his best heroes), but it seems like Nigma was prepared. The European powerhouse made sure to shut him down, which was enough to win the game.

With an 11k+ net worth lead just 17 minutes after the start, it was obvious that Nigma would win this match. The draw allowed SumaiL and the rest to occupy first place in Group A, at least for now.

Group B

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Aside from the epic series in Group A, the second Group also allowed us to watch a couple of matches that were worth it.

Team Secret won two series and occupied the first spot in the group

Despite the team’s shaky performance during Tour 3, Team Secret is the most dominant squad so far at the Riyadh Masters 2022. After winning against Tundra, Roman “Resolut1on” Fomynok and the rest defeated Deboosters and PSG.LGD.

The match vs Deboosters was like a walk in the park for Reso and the rest. The second game was more interesting because Deboosted did everything in their power to win. However, Secret’s class and Reso’s amazing Chen prevented this from happening.

Secret vs PSG.LGD

After the warmup against Deboosters, Secret had to face its biggest challenge yet and play against PSG.LGD. The Chinese powerhouse won its first match versus Team Spirit, so it was motivated to secure another victory. Sadly, this never happened.

Game 1

The first match between the two was probably one of the most interesting games of the event. People expected to see some interesting heroes, but this match exceeded our expectations because Secret decided to pick Techies.

Puppey’s draft in the first game of the series allowed Secret to rip through their opponents in no time. Since it focused on the early and mid-game, all heroes were able to deal tons of damage. As a result, the EU team had more than a 5k net worth lead just 10 minutes after the start.

LGD tried to bounce back and provide their Alch with the needed space to farm, but this never happened. Even the fastest farming hero in the game was unable to keep up with Secret’s cores, who scored more than 30 kills in under 20 minutes.

Game 2

Team Secret made some changes for the second game of the series, but the team used roughly the same draft. Even though it wasn’t as easy as in game one, the EU squad did not allow PSG.LGD to take advantage of their deadly heroes.

The fact that Secret was ahead the entire game did not guarantee them a victory because the Chinese had Enigma, TA and Bristle. In other words, every wrong move can be enough for them to win.

Luckily, Puppey and the rest knew what to do in such situations and took full advantage of their draft. Hence, Secret needed just 29 minutes to win the match.

Other results

As mentioned, PSG.LGD defeated the current TI champions, Team Spirit, with little to no effort. This was definitely the most surprising result of the week, but there were a few other interesting matches. 

Nigma Galaxy won its series against TSM, and Royal Never Give Up also defeated the same opponents. Lastly, Team Tundra delivered Deboosters yet another painful loss.

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