Riyadh Masters 2023

The Riyadh Masters 2023 tournament will be held in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, as part of the Gamers8 festival. The Saudi Esports Federation is organizing this event. Sixteen teams will take part. Eight of them will be selected based on the results in the qualification games Play-in, and the remaining participants will be determined based on the average result of their performances in two seasons of DreamLeague. The total prize pool for the tournament is $15,000,000.

Participants:

• eight teams are seeded in the group stage;
• one team from DreamLeague Season 19;
• two teams from DreamLeague Season 20;
• one team if the DreamLeague Season 19 champion is one of the two teams;
• the top five teams by average ranking from DreamLeague Season 19 and 20;
• top six if the DreamLeague Season 19 champion takes the top two spots in DreamLeague Season 20;
• twelve teams qualify for Play-in;
• eleven teams based on the EPT ranking system;
• each of the six regions will have at least one team in each region;
• slots are allocated to regions based on regional Elo rating;
• one team from a MENA qualifier;

Tiebreaker rules:

• If the tie is over a position of significance;
  • Two teams - a Bo3 will be played;
  • Three teams or more - a Bo1 round-robin will be played;
  • If the tiebreaker does not resolve following the first round of the round robin:
    • Three teams - the tiebreaker will be replayed;
    • Four teams or more - the matrix listed below will be used to resolve the tie, adding the information from the tiebreaker matches to those gathered during the group stage.
• For ties that are not over positions of significance (in order of importance):
  1. Neustadtl score;
  2. Head-to-head record between the tied participants taking only game score into account;
  3. Record vs the first team below the tied teams, continuing to each subsequent team below the tied teams til the tie is resolved;
  4. 1v1 tiebreakers.
• If there is with no schedule allowance and involves explicit elimination, then 1v1 tiebreakers will be played.

Play-In - 19.07.2023 - 20.07.2023:

• two groups of six teams each;
• single round-robin;
• all matches are Bo2;
• top two teams from each group advance to the group stage;
• the 3rd through 6th place teams from each group advance to the group stage;
• 3rd vs. 6th, 4th vs. 5th, matches are played from opposite groups;
• winners advance to the group stage;
• losers are eliminated;

Group Stage - 21.07.2023 - 24.07.2023:

• two groups of eight teams each;
• single round-robin;
• all matches are Bo2;
• top four teams from each group advance to the Upper Bracket of the playoffs;
• the 5th and 6th place teams from each group advance to the Lower Bracket playoffs;
• the remaining teams are eliminated;

Playoffs - 25.07.2023 - 30.07.2023:

• system Double Elimination (Upper and Lower Bracket);
• all matches except the Grand Final are Bo3;
• grand-final: Bo5;