OG tops group stages of Mars Dota 2 League

In the group stage of the Chinese tournament Mars Dota 2 League, OG have taken the top score and will continue into phase two.

They emerged from this part of the event with a 5-2 score, only dropping games to North America’s Evil Geniuses and Chinese squad LGD.

Tied for second in points were local teams Newbee, LGD and LGD.Forever Young; the latter two fought their way into The International through the main qualifiers, while Newbee earned their direct invite alongside OG. In the end, the teams decided not to do a tiebreaker and instead allow OG to pick their opponents.

Strangely enough, OG elected to take one of the two teams that they lost to in the group stage, LGD (the other being “G-rivals” EG). That particular game, though, saw the infamous Meepo play by Johan “n0tail” Sundstein, and the risky pick plus a brutal team composition by LGD created a quick four-versus-five situation for the European favorites.

In the lower bracket, meanwhile, are the rest of the competitors. From abroad are EG and Southeast Asian squad Clutch Gamers, which will face off in the lower bracket. The Chinese teams to battle in the lower bracket are Invictus Gaming and Vici Gaming.

All teams still take home a piece of the $250,000 prize pool, with the top org taking $112,500 for first.

MDL continues on July 7th; for non-Chinese viewers, Beyond The Summit’s English coverage begins again 11PM EDT on their Twitch channel.