BetBoom have reached the playoffs of Dota 2 event ESL One Birmingham 2024, despite bug abuse, reports Wade White in this groups recap.
The group stage for ESL One Birmingham 2024 kicked off on April 22nd, with the 12 qualified teams being split into two different groups where each team played each other in a round robin best of two series.
Group A consisted of Team Falcons, Team Liquid, BetBoom Team, G2 x iG, Shopify Rebellion and Talon Esports whilst Group B had Gaimin Gladiators, Xtreme Gaming, Tundra Esports, OG, Team Spirit and Heroic.
The top two teams of each group advanced to the upper bracket of the playoffs, whilst the third and fourth place teams in each group advanced into the losers bracket. The bottom two teams in each group were eliminated from the event.
BetBoom Bug Abuse
In the first game of their final series of day one, BetBoom Team abused a bug against opponents G2 x iG. The bug in questions allowed Save playing Shadow Demon to level his ultimate ability to level three, before reaching level 16 where it can be levelled normally.
Despite this, they still lost the first game of series. ESL made the team start the second game with a Level 2 Draft Penalty, where they were given less reserve time during the pick and ban phase. BetBoom also lost this second game against G2.iG.
Despite this, BetBoom finished second in their group after a three way tie breaker between themselves, Team Falcons and Team Liquid.
OG and Pausing
OG, known for in-game antics of popularising the use of tipping and voice lines, paused the game just as a team fight began towards the end of their second game with Heroic.
Team captain Ceb took this opportunity to make a joke at Heroic, who had used a pause earlier in the game to sort out an issue with hotkeys.
“Heroic are very good, they are particularly good at LAN. Their playstyle is very reckless and I mean that in a good way. They play to win and put a lot of pressure on you, some teams will tone that down when these guys will tone it up.”
Ceb praising Heroic in the post-match interview saying
Group Stage results
After a three-way tie in Group A and a four-way tie in Group B, the group stage finally came to an end. Team Falcons, Tundra Esports, OG and BetBoom Team found themselves in the Upper Bracket of the playoffs, with Team Liquid, Heroic, Xtreme Gaming and G2 x iG in the Lower Bracket. The remaining teams from the Group Stage were all eliminated from the event.
The ESL One Birmingham live crowd days begin on Friday April 26th, with the Lower Bracket games starting first at 12pm in front of a Live Audience at Resorts World Arena in Birmingham.
Wade ‘AggresiveDuck’ White is a tournament and event organiser for Super Smash Brothers Ultimate in London and Essex, with events reaching as many as 250+ attendees.
Wade originally started in esports by entering in amateur Dota 2 leagues before moving into the FGC scene with Smash Ultimate in 2018, competing in offline events in the UK and Europe.
