Why Thunder Awaken Did Not Get Riyadh Masters Invite
| Tags: Dota 2
| Author The News One
After the Riyadh Masters final lineup reveal many have been left wondering why Thunder Awaken did not get a Riyadh Masters invite
The organizers of Riyadh Masters 2023 have provided a detailed explanation of how they invited and selected teams for the tournament. Since they released the list of invitees, fans have been questioning why certain teams were chosen over others who seemed equally deserving. One particular query that has been frequently raised is why Thunder Awaken did not receive a Riyadh Masters invite while Team Secret did.
The lineup for #RiyadhMasters is truly incredible 🤩
Only ONE of these fantastic teams can grab that massive $5,000,000 first place prize; who do you think it will be? 🏆#ThelandofHeroes pic.twitter.com/C2NZrCffB2
— Gamers8 Esports (@Gamers8GG) July 12, 2023
Thunder Awaken Did Not Get Riyadh Masters Invite: What Do The Organizers Say?
Gamers8 has revealed how they shortlisted the direct invitees for Riyadh Masters:
“Twelve teams start their Riyadh Masters campaign in Group Stage 1, otherwise known as the Play-Ins. The first team, qualified via the MENA qualifier, is Quest Esports. The remaining eleven slots are awarded using our Regional EPT Rankings, which are only used to rank teams within their own region. Each region is automatically assigned one of these slots, to be awarded to their highest-ranked team that isn't already qualified.”
Following the criteria set by the organizers, the following teams have been selected as participants in the tournament:
- Quest Esports (qualified via the MENA qualifier)
- 9Pandas (the highest-ranked Eastern European team that did not qualify for the tournament)
- beastcoast (the highest-ranked South American team that did not qualify for the tournament)
- Execration (the highest-ranked South East Asian team that did not qualify for the tournament)
- Team Aster (the highest-ranked Chinese team that did not qualify for the tournament)
- Team Liquid (the highest-ranked Western European team that did not qualify for the tournament)
- TSM (the highest-ranked North American team that did not qualify for the tournament)
The Riyadh Masters selection process (Image Courtesy: Gamers8)
The final five slots in the tournament are allocated based on the ELO rating, with certain teams from each region being overlooked. This decision is determined by subtracting 1 from the number of teams that have already qualified for Riyadh Masters in that particular region.
The process of excluding teams is determined by subtracting 1 from the number of teams already qualified for Riyadh Masters in a specific region. This means that only the highest-ranked teams from CN, NA, SA, and SEA are disregarded, while the top 3 teams in WEU and the top 2 teams in EEU are not taken into account. The region with the highest ELO rating receives the first slot, and another team from that region is excluded when determining the subsequent slot.
The allocation process extends until all slots are distributed, with three slots specifically designated for WEU, one for CN, and one for EEU. These slots are awarded to the teams that hold the highest rankings in the Regional EPT Rankings and have not yet qualified for the tournament. As a result, OG, Entity, and Team Secret from WEU, Xtreme Gaming from CN, and Virtus.pro from EEU are granted these coveted slots.
The full list of Riyadh Masters participants, therefore, looks like this:
- Quest Esports
- 9Pandas
- beastcoast
- Execration
- Team Aster
- Team Liquid
- TSM
- OG
- Entity
- Team Secret
- Xtreme Gaming
- Virtus.pro
Due to the direct qualification of European teams based on their DreamLeague results, East and Western European regions acquired the highest number of slots in the tournament.
For this reason, Team Secret (1558 points) got a Riyadh Masters invite, while Thunder Awaken (5356) was overlooked.