Liquid cruise to 2-0 at Beyond Epic - EU/CIS

Liquid, who beat Ninjas in Pyjamas 2-1 in Monday's opener, handed Alliance their second 2-0 defeat in as many days, after Team Empire swept Alliance on Monday. Elsewhere in Group B action Tuesday, NiP swept Empire, leaving both teams at 1-1.

Team Liquid swept Alliance on Tuesday, becoming the first team to 2-0 and taking the early Group B lead at the Europe and Commonwealth of Independent States region of the Beyond Epic online event. Liquid, who beat Ninjas in Pyjamas 2-1 in Monday's opener, handed Alliance their second 2-0 defeat in as many days, after Team Empire swept Alliance on Monday.

Elsewhere in Group B action Tuesday, NiP swept Empire, leaving both teams at 1-1. NiP have a one-point edge in the standings by virtue of their loss not coming via sweep. In Group A's only match, OG rallied by Team Nigma for a 2-1 victory in both teams' opener.

The 12-team, $200,000 Dota 2 event features two groups of six teams playing single round robins, with all matches best-of-three. Victories by a 2-0 margin are worth three standings points, with a 2-1 victory worth two points. Teams that lose 1-2 earn one point, while 0-2 losers earn none. The top two teams from each group will advance to the upper bracket of the double-elimination playoffs, which begin June 25. The third- and fourth-place teams from each group will advance to the lower bracket, with the bottom two teams from both groups eliminated. All playoff matches will be best-of-three until the best-of-five final on June 28.

Liquid opened with a 39-minute victory against Alliance on blue, then took the second map in 33 minutes on red. Michael "miCKe" Vu led the way with a kills/deaths/assists ratio of 7.5/1.5/16. NiP needed 24 minutes to beat Empire on red, then closed it out on blue in 42 minutes. Ondrej "Supream^" Starha, was dominant in the victory, posting a 16/2/9.5 KDA ratio while none of his teammates topped a 5.5 kill average.

Nigma dominated the first map against OG, winning in 27 minutes on red with the help of a whopping 20 kills, no deaths and 18 assists from Amer "Miracle-" Al-Barkawi. But OG charged back with a 29-minute win on blue and 31-minute victory on red to claim victory. They were paced by Syed Sumail "SumaiL" Hassan with a 10.7/5/9 KDA ratio. Action continues Wednesday with three matches, including FlyToMoon playing their opener:

FlyToMoon vs. Ninjas in Pyjamas Team Nigma vs. Team Unique

Team Liquid vs. Team Empire Beyond Epic - Europe/CIS standings (record, map record, points):

Group A 1. Vikin.gg, 1-0, 2-0, 3

2. OG, 1-0, 2-1, 2 3. Team Nigma, 0-1, 1-2, 1

T4. B8, 0-0, 0-0, 0 T4. Team Secret, 0-0, 0-0, 0

6. Team Unique, 0-1, 0-2, 0 Group B

1. Team Liquid, 2-0, 4-1, 5 2. Ninjas in Pyjamas, 1-1, 3-2, 4

3. Team Empire, 1-1, 2-2, 3 T4. FlyToMoon, 0-0, 0-0, 0

T4. Virtus.pro, 0-0, 0-0, 0 6. Alliance, 0-2, 0-4, 0

--Field Level Media