Gaimin Gladiators just dominated the Lima Major, winning their first-ever Valve event. They crushed everyone in their path, winning an impressive 12 straight games. And to top it off, they beat their regional rivals, Team Liquid, in the grand finals, taking home a cool US$200,000 and 400 Dota Pro Circuit points.

The Gladiators had a tough road to the finals, going through the upper bracket against some strong opponents like Team Aster, Entity, and Liquid twice. But unfortunately, the grand final wasn’t as exciting as fans had hoped.

Liquid was missing one of their star players, Samuel “Boxi” Svahn, who had a medical emergency and couldn’t play in two playoff series. Instead, their analyst Mathis “Jabbz” Friesel had to stand-in. So while the Gladiators definitely earned their win, the grand final may leave a bad taste in the mouth of Liquid fans.

For all of the results, be sure to check out the feature we did!

In game one of the grand finals, Quinn “Quinn” Callahan’s Timbersaw and Marcus “Ace” Christensen’s Primal Beast set the early tempo for the Gladiators. These two beefy strength cores wreaked havoc on Liquid’s more fragile line-up, allowing their carry Lina to ramp up quickly.

The Gladiators played a bit of a risky game by being so greedy, which gave Liquid some opportunities to fight back with some impressive team fighting. But in the end, the Gladiators came out ahead, building up a huge lead in gold. And Liquid’s cores just couldn’t keep up with the sheer number of items that the Gladiators had managed to collect throughout the game. This was epitomized by Anton “dyrachyo” Shkredov, who managed to wipe out all of Liquid while sitting in the enemy fountain.

Magic by @dyrachyoo

1 to 0
vs @TeamLiquid
Lima Major, Grand Finals#LimaMajor #Dota2 pic.twitter.com/2N2bmonzTg

— GG | Gaimin Gladiators ?? (@GaiminGladiator) March 5, 2023

The second game of the grand finals was all about Quinn once again. This time, he played Pangolier and wreaked havoc all over the map, leaving Liquid with no choice but to watch as the Gladiators completely dominated from beginning to end, racking up an impressive 27-6 kill score.

SECOND ONE ON THE BAG
We're lacking of words, this feels amazing#LimaMajor #Dota2 pic.twitter.com/Ana71sGxrY

— GG | Gaimin Gladiators ?? (@GaiminGladiator) March 5, 2023

In game three, both teams decided to go for some unconventional picks. The Gladiators brought out their Witch Doctor-Io off-lane combo that they’ve used in the DPC, while Liquid went for a mid-Ancient Apparition to counter the duo’s insane healing abilities. They paired this with an off-lane Earthshaker and carry Tiny for some massive teamfight damage.

Unfortunately, the off-meta picks didn’t do so well in the laning stage. The biggest winner was Quinn’s Tusk, who had a pretty easy time in lane against Nisha’s Ancient Apparition. With some big moves from Quinn in the mid-game, dyrachyo’s Lina was able to completely free farm for the third game in a row.

The off-lane duo also used their high healing and damage to clear out some stacks, which helped the Gladiators build up a huge lead. But Liquid wasn’t ready to give up just yet. They kept trying to break through the Gladiators’ defences and finally had some success with a flawless teamfight that started with a chain stun on Lina.

Despite Liquid’s valiant efforts to win some skirmishes, they were unable to take a full-scale engagement against the Gladiators’ powerful strategy. The Witch Doctor-Io duo proved to be too much for Liquid to handle, out healing everything that they could throw at them.

Although Liquid did showcase some impressive teamfight moves with Toss backs and solid crowd control, it was clear that the Gladiators were the better team overall. In the end, Liquid’s quick smoke outside their own base proved to be a fatal mistake, as the Gladiators quickly swarmed them and pushed them into calling the game.

Los Gladiadores son los CAMPEONES del Major de Lima ?

Let's go @GaiminGladiator pic.twitter.com/cTVFAhJEXu

— Tainim @ Lima Major (@TainimLaFuria) March 6, 2023

With this victory, the Gladiators have claimed their first-ever Valve event and earned themselves a handsome reward of US$200,000 and 400 Dota Pro Circuit points.

Despite the underwhelming grand final, the Gladiators proved to be a dominant force throughout the Lima Major, winning 12 straight games in style. On the other hand, Liquid will undoubtedly be disappointed with their performance, especially with Boxi missing two playoff series due to a medical emergency.

All in all, the Lima Major was a thrilling event for Dota 2 fans around the world and I am sure they can’t wait to see what these teams have in store for us in the next major tournament.