Riyadh Masters 2023 is set to unfold July 19-30 and it is the pinnacle event of ESL Pro Tour. Organised in the Saudi Arabia capital by the Saudi Esports Federation, the tournament boasts a $15,000,000 prize pool, which seems impossible to be ignored by the pro scene.

Compared to last year’s The International, for which the teams had to fight a yearlong battle through Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) regional leagues, majors and regional qualifiers, the road to Riyadh Masters, which is shy of just four million dollars from the TI 11 prize pool, is much shorter. However, there are no regional qualifiers for Riyadh, except for MENEA region, the invite system being exclusively based on the EPT results and rankings.

Riyadh Masters 2023 prize pool distribution:

1st place: $5,000,000
2nd place: $2,500,000
3rd place: $1,700,000
4th place: $1,200,000
5th-6th place: $800,000
7th-8th place: $500,000
9th-12th place: $300,000
13th-14th place: $200,000
15th-16th place: $100,000
17th-18th place: $50,000
19th-20th place: $50,000

A total of 20 teams will get a direct invite to Riyadh Masters 2023. Eight of these teams will come from DreamLeague Season 19 and Season 20.

So far, only Gaimin Gladiators have secured a ticket to Riyadh by winning DL Season 19. They will participate in Season 20 as well. The remaining 17 invites to Riyadh masters will be distributed as follows:

Best 5 average placed teams at DreamLeague
11 regional invites based on EPT rankings
1 MENEA qualifier

If Gaimin Gladiators place top 2, as the team is already qualified for Riyadh Masters, the teams invited from average DreamLeague placements would increase from 5 to 6.

Winning the upcoming DreamLeague season should, of course, be the main goal for everyone participating, but placing in the top 5 will also be extremely beneficial. DL Champions, the runners up from Season 20 and the average top 5 placed teams will skip the play-in stage at Riyadh Masters 2033 and will be seeded straight into the group stage.

Riyadh Masters 2023 format

Eight teams are seeded into the group stage
One team from DreamLeague Season 19
Two teams from DreamLeague Season 20
Top five average placed teams from DreamLeague Season 19 and 20
Twelve teams are seeded into play-in
Eleven teams based on the EPT Ranking System
Each of the six regions will have at least one team
One team from a MENA qualifier

Play-in stage, July 19-20

Two groups of six teams each
Single round-robin
All matches are Bo2
Top two teams from each group advance to the group stage
3rd to 6th place team from each group will be matched 3rd vs 6th, 4th vs 5th, matches are played from opposite groups
Winners will advance to group stage
Losers are eliminated

Group stage, July 21-24

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
5th and 6th place teams from each group advance to the lower bracket of the playoffs
Remaining teams are eliminated

Playoffs July 26-30

Double-elimination bracket
All matches except Grand Final are Bo3
Grand Final is Bo5

EPT rankings for each region can be found on the official ESL Pro Tour website HERE.

Riyadh Masters 2023: Who is in and who can qualify for the $15M event?