DreamLeague Season 19 was the oddest Dota 2 tournament in recent memory due to Valve dropping one of the biggest patches in years right before the playoffs began. But that only led to some of the most entertaining Dota played by the top teams and another dominant showing from Gaimin Gladiators.
Gaimin Gladiators and Team Liquid were the two top Dota teams heading into the event and found each other playing multiple times in the playoffs almost two months after the exact same thing happened at the Lima Major.
This time, Liquid was playing at full power without needing a substitute due to health issues and was able to take the first playoff meeting with a strong 2-0. But GG was quick to dispatch Shopify Rebellion to set up the rematch in the grand finals.
With Boxi in the lineup, Liquid managed to keep things even with GG throughout the series, but playing on Patch 7.33 opened the door to a lot of experimentation—which led to some interesting interactions as players tried to figure all of the new changes and navigate the larger Dota 2 map in real-time.
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“It’s always nice to win,” Quinn said. “It’s nice to show that we weren’t a patch team and that we were able to adapt and change things up, even with the game-changing a decent amount think a lot of the stuff we were really good at being tweaked or changed.”
And, one thing holds true in any patch; no team can give Ace Doom or they will regret their entire draft. That was Liquid’s downfall in game five and led to GG taking home their second big win in as many months with one final stomp.
GG’s stability, despite dyrachyo being one of the most aggressive carry players in the world, helped them keep calm while adapting to anything Liquid threw at them. That, paired with dyrachyo’s Slark, was Liquid’s downfall in game five and led to GG taking home their second big win in as many months with one final stomp. Though it also didn’t help that Liquid lost game three partially due to iNSaNiA dropping his Holy Locket out of his inventory.
With this win, GG heads into the Berlin Major as arguably the top team in the world, though every roster will now have time to watch the film and practice a bit on this new patch before that event kicks off on April 26. They are also the first team to earn an invite to this year’s Riyadh Masters, which will be a $15 million event in July.
