The Bali Major 2023 victory marked Gaimin Gladiators’ third major victory of the season, winning three in a row with the same lineup. This outstanding achievement showed Gaimin Gladiators’ brilliance and establishes their place as one of the finest Dota 2 teams in history and tied with OG as the only team who scored three victories in Major during 2016-2017 season.
The victors repeated their upper-bracket runs from previous Majors, defeating beastcoast, Quest Esports, Tundra Esports, and Team Liquid to win their third and final Major of the season. Alongside Team Liquid, Gaimin Gladiators started as one of Western Europe’s teams at the Dota 2 Lima Major back on February 22. Both of them were the two most dominant teams throughout the group stage and playoffs, with Gaimin bested Liquid twice in the competition.
Gaimin then continued their streak at the Berlin Major on April 7. They breezed through Team Spirit, OG, and 9Pandas with three consecutive 2-0 seriest to reached the Grand Final for the second time and met with Team Liquid once again, with the latter ended up in defeat 3-1.
And yesterday, Gaimin completed a full circle as they triumphed 3-1 to win the match against Liquid yet again. Though everyone was anticipating the rising star Quinn “Quinn” Callahan in the grand final, the midlaner Marcus “Ace” Hoelgaard and captain Melchior “Seleri” Hilenkamp have proved their worth with their world class play.
The first game was a thriller between the two European giants, with Gaimin coming out on top and winning the most of the early battles. Liquid, however, was dominating the entire game with Ludwig “zai” Wahlberg’s Broodmother. Even though they were behind, the Gaimin boys remained confident, patiently farming up for core items. Gaimin eventually scored a team wipe at the 40-minute mark to turn the tide and win their first game.
Despite the devastating loss, Liquid was unfazed and picked the Leshrac-Io combo for the game two, with Michael “miCKe” Vu took Leshrac to the safe lane. The ruthless efficiency from Leshrac-Io proved to be lethal with miCKe and Aydin “Insania” Sarkohi being highlighted in the game two. Although Liquid equalized, Gaimin took the loss from game two as their inspiration and took the Leshrac-Io combo to another level, winning their quickest Major’s game ever in just 21 minutes in game three.
Gaimin eventually breezed in the game four as they managed to secure their signature heroes: Medusa, Beastmaster and Storm Spirit. Liquid’s strategy which was played around Juggernaut and Lone Druid was rendered ineffective. Gaimin Gladiators asserted their dominance and sealed their victory in just 30 minutes.
Gaimin will go home with US$200,000 and 600 Dota Pro Circuit points, securing a direct invitation ticket to The International 12. They have made a new history as the team who won all of their Majors in one year, matching OG’s past achievement. However, it should be noted that the Gaimin Gladiators won three consecutive games with the same lineup, whereas the OG had their roster changed during their three-peat season.
