The group stage of the Europe/CIS leg of this tournament finally came to a close yesterday with the last match being Team Secret vs OG. In just a few hours, we will finally start to see some playoff action from the eight teams that have qualified through the group stage.

Expect to see competitive and intense DOTA right off the bat as the lower bracket teams battle it out to keep their hopes of staying in this tournament alive. Excited for a particular match-up or keeping an eye on how your favorite team will perform in their playoff opener? Read on to see the schedule of the upcoming games.

Here are the final team standings of all the teams from the group stage with the top four teams of each group keeping their quest for the title alive going into the playoffs.

Group A

TeamsWinLossPoints
Team Secret418-2 (12 pts)
Team Nigma419-3 (11.9 pts)
Vikin.gg327-5 (8.9 pts)
OG327-6 (8.4 pts)
B8142-8 (3 pts)
Team Unique051-10 (0.4 pts)

Group B

TeamsWinLossPoints
FlyToMoon418-3 (11.5 pts)
Team Liquid418-4 (11 pts)
Virtus.pro235-6 (6.4 pts)
Alliance234-6 (6 pts)
Ninjas in Pyjamas235-7 (5.9 pts)
Team Empire144-8 (3.8 pts)

The top 2 teams of each group in Team Secret, Team Nigma, FlyToMoon, and Team Liquid look to battle it out in the upper bracket with the winners advancing to the upper bracket finals drawing them closer to the grand final while the losers will get knocked-off into the lower bracket and grind it out from there if they wish to come back for a slot into the grand finals.

See the match-up preview below along with the schedule for round one to make sure you don’t miss the chance to watch the team you’re rooting for.

Lower Bracket

Vikin.gg (3-2) 2.27 vs Alliance (2-3) 1.48

The number 6 and number 7 ranked teams in the Europe & CIS region battle it out in the opening match of the Beyond Epic Eu/CIS region playoffs. Vikin.gg won against Alliance in their match in the previously held ESL ONE Los Angeles, however, in their most recent outing in the OGA DOTA PIT the results favored Alliance 2-1 in a best-of-three series. This match may go either way but I am looking at Alliance to advance into the next round as Nikobaby is just a phenomenal safe lane carry once he gets going while LIMMP takes care of the early to midgame as a midlaner. The supports in s4, Handsken and fng are very capable of playing as the supporting cast which might just give them the advantage in this series.

VP (2-3) 1.9 vs OG (3-2) 1.7

I am looking Virtus.pro to take this one despite them being listed as underdogs in this closely listed betting line. Basing off of their performance and match-up results in the previously held ESL ONE Los Angeles, VP has won all three matches against OG from the group stage until the playoffs as they swept OG in all of their matches except for the grand finals where they reached the deciding game five as they emerged victors and ultimately champions of the Europe/CIS leg of ESL ONE Los Angeles.

Team Secret (4-1) 1.09 vs Team Liquid (4-1) 5.15

Despite having same team standings at one loss each, Team Secret carries higher points coming into the playoffs as all of their wins from the group stage were all done in a clean 2-0 sweep fashion. I don’t see the heavily favored three title-holder in Team Secret to lose in this match-up, they have just played so much better as a team and they look to very well be grabbing their fourth title in a row in this tournament.

FlyToMoon (4-1) 2.57 vs Team Nigma (4-1) 1.38

No upset seems to be expected here as favorites, Team Nigma, look to be the superior team in this match even though they share the same team standing. Team Nigma was the only team that handed the favorites to win it all, Team Secret, a loss in the group stage indicating the potential of their roster and how much talent this team has. I don’t see V-Tune outcarrying Miracle- here, which they must do if they wish to pull-off a shocker.

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