Esports World Cup 2024 is arguably the main esports event of this summer (fighting game community will disagree because for them EVO Las Vegas is bigger). In the first week of the event in Saudi Arabia, the Dota 2 tournament had a play-in stage. Twelve teams entered it but only eight moved on to the group stage.

Two Chinese teams, G2 x iG and Azure Ray, were out after the groups stage of the play-ins as they finished sixth in their respective groups. While the former did their best and lost only to compatriots LGD Gaming in the tiebreaker, Azure Ray looked like the squad was on the verge of disband. Considering they failed to qualify for The International, that might be unsurprising. For them, the season is basically over and who knows what reshuffle will bring in the future.

What is more disappointing is the elimination of Virtus.pro and nouns. The Armenian club had all the power to both qualify for the TI and have a decent run in Saudi Arabia, but miserably failed to do both. The North American team did qualify for the Dota 2 World Championship, yet they need to step up, since now they can't compete on the same level with the best.

The Esports World Cup Dota 2 tournament will resume on July 10, while the groups will be drawn on Monday.

Main image: x.com

Comment on this