HellRaisers improve to 2-0 in Pushka League

HellRaisers grabbed an early lead in the CIS group with a 2-0 victory Saturday over FlyToMoon at the WePlay! Pushka League online tournament. The 14-team, $250,000 Dota 2 event features seven from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and seven from Europe.

Each team plays six matches in the round-robin group stage, with each match best-of-three. The top four teams in each group will advance to the double-elimination playoffs, scheduled to begin May 7. HellRaisers improved to 2-0 by beating FlyToMoon in 36 and 40 minutes. It was the first match for FlyToMoon.

Also in CIS action Saturday, Natus Vincere (1-1) broke into the win column by sweeping B8 (0-2) in 49 and 32 minutes. In the European group, Alliance (1-1) posted a 2-1 win over Team Liquid (0-2). Team Liquid won the opening map in 21 minutes, but Alliance answered with wins in 25 and 33 minutes. Following group play, all playoff matches will be best-of-three aside from the May 12 final, which will be best-of-five. The champion will receive $70,000, and the runner-up will get $45,000.

Sunday's WePlay! Pushka League schedule: Europe

--Team Nigma vs. Team Liquid --Team Secret vs. OG Seed

CIS --Virtus.pro vs. FlyToMoon

WePlay! Pushka League standings through Saturday: Europe

1. Ninjas in Pyjamas, 2-0 2. Team Secret, 1-0

3. Alliance, 1-1 T4. OG, 0-0

T4. Team Nigma, 0-0 6. OG Seed, 0-1

7. Team Liquid, 0-2 CIS

1. HellRaisers, 2-0 2. Team Spirit, 1-0

3. Natus Vincere, 1-1 T4. Virtus.pro, 0-0

T4. VP.Prodigy, 0-0 6. FlyToMoon, 0-1

7. B8, 0-2 --Field Level Media