Gaimin Gladiators win the Bali Major

If Dota 2 was football, we’d be saying right now that Gaimin Gladiators completed the treble. This formidable team won all three Dota Pro Circuit Majors this year and they did it against the same opponent: Team Liquid.

Although it must be painful for the defeated to admit defeat for the third consecutive time, they’re probably happy with what they’ve achieved so far in 2023. And let’s be serious: the two biggest tournaments of the year are yet to be played.

If Liquid can take the lessons they’ve learned from the Bali Major and use them at Riyadh Masters 2023 and The International 12, they have a real chance of causing a big upset at these competitions.

As for Gaimin Gladiators, there has probably never been a Dota 2 team that managed to dominate the professional circuit from start to finish in such a convincing manner. Usually, the best teams win a few Majors, not all of them.

“We came, we saw, we conquered.” – Gaimin Gladiators 2023 pic.twitter.com/WMT0BN8gQz

— GG | Gaimin Gladiators ⚔️ (@GaiminGladiator) July 9, 2023

Gaimin Gladiators’ victory over Team Liquid

Gaimin Gladiators qualified for the Grand Final of the Bali Major by finishing 3^rd in group B with a record of 3 W – 4 D – 1 L and then beating everyone in the upper bracket. They started with beastcoast (2-1), continued with Quest Esports (2-1), and finally Tundra Esports (2-0).

All of these matches were hard and pushed them to their limits. But in the end, their current understanding of the meta proved to be considerably better than everyone else’s.

In the Grand Final, the first two games were very tough for Gladiators and they were lucky to win one of them. In game 1, Liquid had a 15.000 gold advantage but eventually lost. In game 2, Liquid’s 6.000 gold advantage was lost again. But this time, Aydin “Insania” Sarkohi knew what to do to regain the lead and eventually win.

Games 3 and 4 were a disaster for Liquid. Compared to games 1 and 2, which lasted for 48 and 54 minutes respectively, the last two games combined lasted for just 51 minutes and were complete stomps.

In game 3, Gladiators stole Liquid’s Leshrac plus IO strategy from game 2 and ran them over in 21 minutes. In game 4, the combination of Medusa, Beastmaster, and Storm Spirit proved to be too strong around the 20-minute mark for Liquid’s Juggernaut plus Lone Druid strategy.

For their victory, Gladiators received $200.000, which is a tiny fraction of what they’ll get if they win Riyadh Masters later this month.

Header: Gaimin Gladiators