Gaimin Gladiators defeat Liquid once again to win Berlin Major

What Gaimin Gladiators did at ESL One Berlin Major reminds us of the past eras of dominance established by competitors like Virtus.pro, Team Secret, OG, and PSG.LGD.

It is absolutely remarkable just how much stronger Gladiators are compared to the rest of the teams. Even Team Liquid, who defeated five strong opponents in the lower bracket, did not stand a chance against them and were able to win just one game in a best-of-five Grand Final.

This result was almost a repeat of that from DreamLeague S19. Gladiators lost a single game and won the other three relatively easily.

The Grand Final

In game one, Liquid wanted to try a pure Alchemist draft in which the carry would be supported by heroes that can easily fight and make space after the laning phase. Pudge, Queen of Pain, and Silencer are perfect for that type of strategy. But Gladiators read Liquid’s intentions and countered with Terrorblade, Pangolier, and Magnus.

These are heroes that can easily fight against Alchemist and are in no risk of easily getting caught by his stuns.

In game two, Liquid won thanks to a solid performance from all of their cores. The battle was practically over at the 12 minute mark. This was one of those rare instances where Gladiators don’t play their draft correctly or simply don’t have the right heroes to deal with the enemy draft.

Both Monkey King and Pangolier struggled almost from the start and it was only a matter of time until Liquid took over the whole map.

Games three and four were nearly identical. Gladiators picked Alchemist bost times while Liquid responded with Doom and carry heroes like Ursa and Bloodseeker. In both cases, the battle ended after just 34 minutes because Alchemist got out of control. His gpm was close to 1000 in the first game and close to 900 in the second game.

When you have so much gold, losing the game is only possible after the 45 minute mark, when the entire enemy team is practically six-slotted and can respond with the proper tools.

After this victory, Gladiators are clearly the favorites to win the third DPC Major and The International 12. Both teams are already qualified for the big event and it’s hard to imagine anyone interfering with their battles. There are only several teams that could upgrade their playstyle significantly, but it’s unlikely that they’ll manage to do it.

Header: ESL