LGD Gaming was the dominant Dota 2 force in China all year and proved to be a top contender at The International 2023. Unfortunately, the team suffered two brutal losses in a row and were eliminated by Gaimin Gladiators—thus continuing an unfortunate TI streak for the organization.
After a massive team shuffle following the retirement of Faith_bian and Ame taking an extended break past TI11, LGD rebuilt its roster around NothingToSay and y’ for the 2023 season.
That new, younger roster quickly cemented itself as the best team in China but failed to make an impact on the global for most of the season, up until claiming a fifth-place finish at the Bali Major. They proved their mettle again to start TI12 by dominating the group stage and making an undefeated run to the upper bracket finals—where things fell apart against Team Spirit.
Spirit handed LGD its first true loss of the tournament in spectacular fashion that called back to the TI10 grand finals, knocking the Chinese team down to clash with Gaimin Gladiators in the lower bracket finals.
Outside of one big spike around 37 minutes into game one, Gaimin was barely contested and soundly swept LGD in two wins where Quinn and crew played to their strengths and didn’t rush things in order to secure a shot at the Aegis.
Both games were near-perfect performances from Quinn on his Necrophos and Queen of Pain, dominating the midlane and freely rotating to shatter any chance to make plays for the Chinese team. Specifically in game two, Gaimin took control of the map early thanks to that QoP and tOfu’s Dark Willow roaming, which kept LGD from farming up to counter the item builds that eventually stifled shiro’s Naga Siren.
While Gaimin reached the pinnacle of Dota after a long lower bracket run, this also means LGD continues one of the longest periods of international success without claiming a single Aegis.
Since TI2 in 2012, LGD has attended every iteration of Valve’s biggest event. Across those tournaments with varying rosters, the team has never finished lower than ninth and currently has the most podium finishes out of any organization in Dota, with six total—four in third place and two in second place.
“I don’t really feel much [emotionally] at this very moment because we just lost our series, and I’m feeling pretty sad right now,” y’ said. “It is very touching to see so many Chinese fans and international fans at the arena cheering for us. One of the biggest senses of loss I feel right now is just not being able to get into the grand finals and hear them cheer for us once more.”
There are several question marks surrounding LGD heading into next season, specifically when it comes to Ame and whether he will make his competitive return for the team in 2024 or potentially strike out with a different roster.
