(Photo credit: John Meore/The Journal News)

Team Falcons and PARIVISION stand alone atop their groups, while 1w and Team Yandex share first place and Aurora Gaming is tied with Nigma Galaxy after Thursday's action at the Dota 2 event of the Esports World Cup in Paris.

Group A's Team Falcons and Group C's PARIVISION each won with 2-0 sweeps over their opponents and are unbeaten. Team Yandex (3-0-1) also swept to victory in Group D, but 1w split a match 1-1 with OG to move to 3-0-1 in the competition. Similarly, Group B co-leader Aurora Gaming is 3-0-1 after a prior tie with Nigma and Friday's 2-0 win over PTime.

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 Friday in Group A, BetBoom Team swept Xtreme Gaming, winning in 39 minutes on green and 20 minutes on red. Team Falcons swept Poor Rangers in 31 minutes on green and 34 minutes on red. GamerLegion and Rune Eaters played to a 1-1 tie, with GamerLegion taking red in 52 minutes and their opponents emerging with a 68-minute victory on red.

Group B was all sweeps, as Aurora Gaming took down PlayTime in 46 minutes on red and 44 minutes on green; Team Liquid vanquished L1 TEAM in 28 minutes and 42 minutes, both on green; and Nigma Galaxy notched a 2-0 win over LEVEL Up in 28 minutes on red and 33 minutes on green.

Group C followed suit in with three sweeps. PARIVISION beat MOUZ in 43 minutes on green and 22 minutes on red; Vici Gaming knocked off Team Nemesis in 51 minutes on red and 39 minutes on green; and Team Spirit blanked REKONIX in 41 minutes on red and 28 minutes on green.

In Group D, Team Yandex swept LGD Gaming, winning in 33 minutes on green and 34 minutes on red. Virtus.pro blanked Inner Circle x Insanity, taking red in 35 minutes and green in 39. OG and 1w played to a 1-1 tie, with 1w winning in 40 minutes on red and OG emerging with a 51-minute victory on red.

Saturday's schedule

Group A

--Xtreme Gaming vs. Team Falcons

--BetBoom Team vs. GamerLegion

--Poor Rangers vs. Rune Eaters

Group B

--Aurora Gaming vs. Team Liquid

--PlayTime vs. Nigma Galaxy

--L1 TEAM vs. Level UP

Sunday's schedule

Group C

--PARIVISION vs. Team Spirit

--MOUZ vs. Vici Gaming

--REKONIX vs. Team Nemesis

Group D

--1w vs. Team Yandex

--OG vs. Virtus.pro

--LGD Gaming vs. Inner Circle x Insanity

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

Group A

1. Team Falcons, 3-0-1 (7-1)

2. BetBoom Team, 2-0-2 (6-2)

3. Xtreme Gaming, 1-1-2 (4-4)

4. GamerLegion, 1-2-1 (3-5)

5. Rune Eaters, 0-1-3 (3-5)

6. Poor Rangers, 0-3-1 (1-7)

Group B

T1. Aurora Gaming, 3-0-1 (7-1)

T1. Nigma Galaxy, 3-0-1 (7-1)

3. Team Liquid, 2-1-1 (5-3)

4. PlayTime 1-1-2 (4-4)

5. L1 TEAM, 0-3-1 (1-7)

6. Level UP, 0-4-0 (0-8)

Group C

1. PARIVISION, 4-0-0 (8-0)

2. Team Spirit, 3-0-1 (7-1)

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

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

5. Team Nemesis, 0-3-1 (1-7)

6. REKONIX, 0-4-0 (0-8)

Group D

T1. 1w, 3-0-1 (7-1)

T1. Team Yandex, 3-0-1 (7-1)

3. OG, 1-1-2 (4-4)

T4. LGD Gaming, 1-2-1 (3-5)

T4. Virtus.pro, 1-2-1 (3-5)

6. Inner Circle x Insanity, 0-4-0 (0-8)

--Field Level Media