Few Dota 2 teams have ever come close to having a dominant run like Gaimin Gladiators this year, with the roster recently polishing off a historic third-straight Dota Pro Circuit Major victory in Bali. According to one of the engines driving the team, dyrachyo, taking care of business at events like that is just something they take in stride in a “no pressure” approach to the game.
This doesn’t mean Gaimin aren’t focused on preparing or playing their best at each event, though. On the contrary, it means they are hyper-aware of how well they have been playing and are working to keep themselves in shape by managing the small things about the game.
“Even if when we do get smashed by teams like Liquid in events, it helps us figure out a lot of things for the Majors and other places,” dyrachyo told Dot Esports. “Dota is kinda the same game, but small things get added with patches, but it is always like blah, blah, blah, and something like the Roshan pit. If you’re a good player, you have to adapt and learn how to adapt faster than others.”
That focus on adaptation has been clear in each of Gaimin’s big wins this season, with any losses or sudden changes to the meta fueling the team en route to three DPC Majors and two DreamLeague titles—all consecutively.
Their triple crown of DPC Majors is the first time any team has managed to secure all three titles since the modern circuit was established in 2017. It also fully established this as one of the most dominant runs in Dota 2 history while putting Gaimin at the top of title contention for TI12 with a Muerta-fired bullet.
A large part of that success was the addition of Quinn, who Gaimin brought over from North America post-TI11 and who dyrachyo credits as being capable of “always having a good game or going 50-50.” That confidence pairs perfectly with their dedication to playing as much good Dota as possible and learning from live fire exercises—even if that learning comes from not knowing what to do 20 scrims deep into a practice session.
“Sometimes you’re just going to think like ‘what the fuck, we are winning?’ and then get stomped the next scrim or when you make it to official [tournaments],” dyrachyo said. “It’s natural for someone to own us while we try to figure things out. We never go into games thinking ‘we have to practice this.’ If you find something good or broken from pubs or scrims, you just have to keep your eyes open and think about all this stuff.”
The goal in playing so much Dota is to help retain everything they have learned because, while Gaimin are currently on top of the world, they know that even six months at the peak can crumble at any point.
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Dyrachyo and the boys keep on the grind because there are always things they can work on, and stepping away means “you’re gonna forget some simple things.” The only way to prevent that is by finding what type of practice works for you and keeping yourself in shape, so you avoid forgetting those small but helpful areas of the game that separate the best from the rest.
Heading into Riyadh Masters and preparation for TI12, it is now a game of “balance” for Gaimin as they continue to test strats and play their version of pressureless Dota. But they won’t be taking anything easy. Dyrachyo promises that the team will “try to win every game and tournament” they enter.
“We are just going to keep playing some good Dota and helping each other,” dyrachyo said. “We don’t like to lose, and we have a lot of ideas.”
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For dyrachyo, that means he will be looking to hone his ability to communicate and better take advantage of situations in the laning stage, all while optimizing those little things that have carried him this far with his team.
