Team Spirit finished as the lone unbeaten team as The International 2023 concluded the first phase of the group stage on Friday.

The initial round served merely to eliminate four of the 20 entrants, with Team SMG, Thunder Awaken, beastcoast and PSG Quest failing to make the cut.

The Dota tournament annually has the largest prize pool in sports, with the amount rising throughout the competition based on in-game sales to the general public. The prize pool for last year’s International began at $1.6 million but wound up being $18.9 million, with Tundra Esports claiming the $8.5 million first prize.

This year’s prize pool started at $1.6 million and is currently at $2.98 million.

The event began with 20 teams separated into four groups for round-robin play in best-of-two matches. The first- and second-place teams from each group will advance to oppose three- or fourth-place teams from another group in the second phase, with the five fifth-place teams eliminated.

Phase two this weekend will include eight best-of-three matches, with the results determining seeding for 16 teams heading to the main event.

The double-elimination playoffs will run Oct. 20-22 and Oct. 27-29 in Seattle. All matches will be best-of-three except for the grand final, which will be best-of-five.

In Friday action, Team Spirit completed a 4-0-0 run through Group A by sweeping Evil Geniuses 2-0. Spirit claimed both maps on green, in 30 and 59 minutes. Ukraine’s Illya “Yatoro” Mulyarchuk paced Spirit with an 11.5/4.5/10.0 kill-death-assist ratio.

Team Liquid emerged on top of Group B with a 3-0-1 record, the same mark that LGD Gaming produced to win Group C. Defending champion Tundra Esports finished first in Group D at 3-0-1.

A tiebreaker was needed to determine the final qualifier out of Group A, with Evil Geniuses defeating Team SMG 2-0. Evil Geniuses opened with a 42-minute win on green, then closed it out in 29 minutes on green. Peru’s Crhistian “Pakazs” Savina wound up at 17-1-16 for Evil Geniuses.

The phase-two seeding matchups for Saturday are:
–Team Spirit vs. Shopify Rebellion
–Team Liquid vs. Evil Geniuses
–LGD Gaming vs. Keyd Stars
–Tundra Esports vs. nouns
–Entity vs. Azure Ray
–BetBoom Team vs. 9Pandas
–Gaimin Gladiators vs. Talon Esports
–TSM vs. Virtus.pro

The International 2023 group stage, first phase final standings
*won tiebreaker

Group A
1. Team Spirit, 4-0-0
2. Entity, 1-1-2
3. 9Pandas, 1-1-2
*T4. Evil Geniuses, 0-2-2
T4. Team SMG, 0-2-2

Group B
1. Team Liquid, 3-0-1
2. BetBoom Team, 3-1-0
3. Azure Ray, 1-1-2
4. Shopify Rebellion, 0-2-2
5. Thunder Awaken, 0-3-1

Group C
1. LGD Gaming, 3-0-1
2. Gaimin Gladiators, 2-1-1
T3. nouns, 0-1-3
T3. Virtus.pro, 0-1-3
5. beastcoast, 0-0-2

Group D
1. Tundra Esports, 3-0-1
2. TSM, 1-1-2
3. Talon Esports, 2-2-0
4. Keyd Stars, 0-1-3
5. PSG Quest, 0-2-2

–Field Level Media