Gaimin Gladiators choked again

It seems that whenever the expectations are high and the moment is critical, Gaimin Gladiators will choke due to a lack of experience or self-confidence. Or maybe it’s an excess of confidence and we don’t see it.

What we do know is that their phase 2 match against Talon Esports was supposed to be quite easy and they ended up losing it. For those who didn’t watch Riyadh Masters 2023, this is the same team that defeated them in that tournament too.

It seems that 23savage and his crew, despite the poor start, are now back to their peak form. Their first two matches, against Tundra Esports and TSM, were a disaster. But they did win against Keyd Stars and PSG Quest, avoiding elimination with 4 points out of 8.

VIEW FROM THE UPPER BRACKET.#SOARWITHTALON #Dota2 #TI12 pic.twitter.com/XdS2f1Yab8

— TALON (@TALON_ESPORTS) October 15, 2023

Gaimin Gladiators vs. Talon Esports: 1 – 2

This match started with a very exciting game in which Gladiators picked the most feared hero of this patch, Muerta, and then went on to play her in the support role, completely tricking Talon. Their real carry was Chaos Knight. Helped by Brewmaster and Puck, he had a very easy game overall. All three cores finished with a GPM of 650+, which is impressive.

Talon’s strategy in this game was a bit too greedy. They had Wraith King, Invoker, Naga Siren, and Tiny. All of these heroes need decent farm to be effective and they’re not good at creating space for each other. This drafting mistake ended up costing Talon the game.

In game 2, Gladiators wanted to try Phantom Assassin, despite her massive nerfs. And the game lasted for 65 minutes, which in theory favors PA. But when you’re playing against Bristleback, Invoker, and Bloodseeker, it’s a lot harder to do whatever you want.

Not to mention the supports, Tusk and Ancient Apparition, who further complicated things for Dyrachyo. PA died 9 times during the game and his team lost despite the spectacular comeback: from 7.4K gold behind at minute 33, to 11K gold ahead at minute 55.

In game 3, both teams had good drafts and the battle heavily favored Gladiators for the first 20 minutes. They had an 8K gold lead at minute 18, which should have been more than enough to win. But at this point, 23savage started playing incredibly well and his Morphling heavily carried the team to victory. He finished the game with 14 kills and 843 GPM.

Header: Valve