The Lima Major Playoffs are now fully confirmed. The group stage of the first Dota Major of the year has concluded, with a few spicy surprises to boot. Let's take a look.  

Lima Major Group A

  Group A was an extremely close affair, but no massive surprises here. TSM, Execration and EHOME bottomed the group, as expected. The top 6 was neck and neck until the end, with Gaimin Gladiators managing to top the group alongside Team Spirit, who they beat in a clean 2-0. Tundra Esports placed much lower than expected, but they're still in the Lima Major Playoffs. They'll have to go through the lower bracket to have any chance at getting the title, though. Talon Esports were perhaps the biggest surprise here, as they're already locked for the upper bracket despite the meddling expectations surrounding them.  

Group B

  This is the spicy one! Betboom Team and Team Liquid came into this tournament as the two most feared teams in the world and, as you can see, one of the two landed very short of the target. BB got swept by Shopify Rebellion and, shockingly, Hellraisers and dropped multiple games in their remaining BO2 series. The only clean 2-0 they managed to pull off was against Knights, who didn't win a single series themselves, so they've lost their shot at making the Lima Major Playoffs. This was a massive underperformance for the Russian organization, which saw Team Liquid top the group and now have to watch the rest of the tournament from home. The final results led to two tiebreakers, which were won by beastcoast and HellRaisers, respectively. In total, 12 teams advance to the playoffs whilst 6 teams bid adieu to their journey at the Lima Major.

Lima Major Playoffs Schedule

  The schedule for the playoffs is already live. Teams in the upper bracket will play their matches in a couple of days, on the 28th of February, between 7 AM PST and 4 PM PST. The lower-bracket matches will take place on the following day, on the same schedule. The Grand Finals will be broadcast on the 5th of March, at 12 PM PST.

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Images courtesy of Valve and Liquipedia. If you'd like to know more about the Lima Major Playoffs, keep an eye on our Dota 2 directory.