(Photo credit: Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images)

Team Falcons took sole possession of first place in Group A with their second straight win at the Dota 2 event of the Esports World Cup on Thursday in Paris.

Falcons defeated GamerLegion 2-0 to emerge from a three-way tie at the top with BetBoom Team and Xtreme Gaming. BetBoom Team split a 1-1 decision with Rune Eaters while Xtreme did the same against Poor Rangers; BetBoom Team and Xtreme will face off Friday on the fourth day of competition.

Elsewhere, Nigma Galaxy and Aurora Gaming each moved to 2-0-1 records to share the top spot in Group B, while PARIVISION and 1w Team were the only teams to go 3-0-0 through their first three matches in Groups C and D, respectively.

The Dota event at the Esports World Cup is the final championship of the ESL Pro Tour, now in its fourth season. The tournament has a $2 million prize pool, with $750,000 and 1,000 club points going to the first-place team.

The format consists of three phases: a group stage (through Sunday) of four groups of six teams competing in a round robin, a survival phase (July 14-15) formatted into a single-elimination bracket that will see four teams advance, then a final playoff stage (July 16-19), which is single elimination.

All matches in Phase 1 are two games, while the matches in Phases 2 and 3 are best-of-three until the best-of-five grand final.

Overall, the Esports World Cup will feature competition in 25 titles and a total prize purse of $75 million. This week's events also include Valorant, Apex Legends and Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves. Upcoming events will include League of Legends, PUBG, EA Sports FC, Call of Duty: Warzone, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, Rocket League, Counter-Strike 2 and Fortnite.

On Thursday, Falcons outlasted GamerLegion in 76 minutes on red and followed that up with a 44-minute win on green.

All three Group B matches ended in 2-0 scorelines. Nigma Galaxy topped Team Liquid in 40 minutes on red and 41 on green; Aurora Gaming turned back L1 TEAM in 40 minutes on red and 33 on green; and PlayTime blanked Level UP in 42 minutes on red and 31 on green.

In Group C, PARIVISION remained perfect by defeating REKONIX in 48 minutes on red and 33 on green. Team Spirit also scored a win over Vici Gaming, prevailing in 44 and 31 minutes, both times on red.

As for Group D, 1w played both maps on red against LGD Gaming and triumphed in 33 and 53 minutes. Also, Team Yandex cemented second place by beating Virtus.pro in 32 and 24 minutes on green, and OG got their first victory vs. Inner Circle x Insanity, winning in 43 and 30 minutes on green.

The other three matches of the day were 1-1 ties.

Friday's schedule:

Group A

--Xtreme Gaming vs. BetBoom Team

--Poor Rangers vs. Team Falcons

--Rune Eaters vs. GamerLegion

Group B

--Aurora Gaming vs. PlayTime

--L1 TEAM vs. Team Liquid

--Level UP vs. Nigma Galaxy

Group C

--PARIVISION vs. MOUZ

--Team Nemesis vs. Vici Gaming

--REKONIX vs. Team Spirit

Group D

--LGD Gaming vs. Team Yandex

--1w vs. OG

--Inner Circle x Insanity vs. Virtus.pro

Dota 2 Esports World Cup group-stage standings (match record W-L-T, map record)

Group A

1. Team Falcons, 2-0-1 (5-1)

T2. BetBoom Team, 1-0-2 (4-2)

T2. Xtreme Gaming, 1-0-2 (4-2)

4. GamerLegion, 1-2-0 (2-4)

5. Rune Eaters, 0-1-2 (2-4)

6. Poor Rangers, 0-2-1 (1-5)

Group B

T1. Aurora Gaming, 2-0-1 (5-1)

T1. Nigma Galaxy, 2-0-1 (5-1)

3. PlayTime, 1-0-2 (4-2)

4. Team Liquid, 1-1-1 (3-3)

5. L1 TEAM, 0-2-1 (1-5)

6. Level UP, 0-3-0 (0-6)

Group C

1. PARIVISION, 3-0-0 (6-0)

2. Team Spirit, 2-0-1 (5-1)

3. MOUZ, 1-0-2 (4-2)

4. Vici Gaming, 1-2-0 (2-4)

5. Team Nemesis, 0-2-1 (1-5)

6. REKONIX, 0-3-0 (0-6)

Group D

1. 1w, 3-0-0 (6-0)

2. Team Yandex, 2-0-1 (5-1)

T3. LGD Gaming, 1-1-1 (3-3)

T3. OG, 1-1-1 (3-3)

5. Virtus.pro, 0-2-1 (1-5)

6. Inner Circle x Insanity, 0-3-0 (0-6)

--Field Level Media