Azure Ray wins Kuala Lumpur 2023 with reverse sweep against Gaimin Gladiators

Azure Ray staged a comeback in the grand final of ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023, overcoming a 0:2 deficit against the Gaimin Gladiators. The Bo5 series concluded with a victory for the Chinese team.

Not only did the Gaimin Gladiators lead in the series, but they also had the upper hand on most maps. Azure Ray, however, consistently found a way to turn the tables. The fifth map became their playground, where they dictated the flow of the game.

Azure Ray emerges as the champion of ESL Kuala Lumpur 2023

Following this victory, Azure Ray topped the ESL Pro Tour rankings, followed by GG, BetBoom, and Team Liquid. All these teams received invitations to DreamLeague S22. Unfortunately, Spirit missed this opportunity as they did not participate in the tournament.

This marks China’s first international LAN victory since the Riyadh Masters 2022, won by LGD. The Gaimin Gladiators failed to secure their seventh trophy in 2023, having won all Majors, two DreamLeague seasons, and the BetBoom Dacha LAN.

The ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023 took place from December 11 to 17 in Malaysia, where teams competed for a million dollars and EPT points. The event started with Patch 7.34e, while the playoffs ran on Patch 7.35, released just hours before the first match.

Team Spirit sought disqualification of Azure Ray

The current international champions, Team Spirit, requested that Azure Ray be removed from the ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023 tournament. Although Team Spirit decided to withdraw from the competition, they urged the organizers to disqualify Azure Ray.

The reasons for this request are not yet clear, but it is likely that Team Spirit has legitimate concerns that, in their view, justify Azure Ray’s removal from the tournament. Why did Team Spirit want Azure Ray excluded from ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023?

Team Spirit’s manager, Dmitry “Korb3n” Belov, strongly opposed Azure Ray maintaining their invitation to ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023 despite three player changes. Belov emphasized on his Telegram channel that according to the rules, the team should be disqualified due to player substitutions.

Belov stated that the rules do not allow for three substitute players, and he is waiting for ESL to officially announce Azure Ray’s disqualification from the Malaysian tournament.

On Telegram, he wrote: “Don’t tell me these are not substitute players but the new players of the roster. The reality is that, without a transfer window, I can officially change the roster every two weeks. And I see no transfer windows in the ESL rules, only fines for substitute players.”

Aldar “Jamba” Dzhambinov, former manager of 9Pandas, joined Spirit’s complaint but expressed skepticism, hinting that Azure Ray might not face consequences. He explained that official invitations sometimes override the rules, allowing teams to build entirely new lineups from scratch.

In the end, Azure Ray was not disqualified and even managed to win the final. What a turnaround!