For their final match-up of the year, Gaimin Gladiators overpowered Team Liquid one final time with a 2:1 victory in the lower brackets quarter-finals of The International 2023.
Team Liquid and Gaimin Gladiators went head to head in the grand finals of The International 2023 the lower bracket quarter-finals of The International 2023.
This is the new El Clasico, the two have met over and over again through the year in the grand finals — four times to be exact, and four times Gaimin Gladiators triumphed over Liquid to take the title so far.
THIS was going to be the last time this year.
THIS time, the stakes were even higher. One team would be sent home, while the other would have to continue to fight.
Team Liquid
vs
Gaimin GladiatorsIn the first game, Team Liquid went with a 1st pick Pugna while GG took an interesting last pick of Blood Seeker. Overall the damage output wasn't there for Team Liquid but according to TL coach Blitz,
“We got some stuff we wanted, they got some stuff they wanted and hopefully we don't lose in 20 minutes”
Gaimin Gladiators took a big win out of the gates with first blood and bounty runes, setting up their lanes to begin strong. As the game progressed, GG continued to dictate the pace and be in full control. However, about 27 minutes in, TL contested Roshan which ended up with three dead on the side of Gaimin Gladiators —giving Team Liquid a bit of a turn of the tides. All it takes is one bad turn and everything crumbles. Since that moment things began to fall apart for GG and TL began to aggressively push them against the wall until Liquid was able to take the win.
For the second time in a row, Gaimin Gladiators opened their draft with a Muerta pick, and Team Liquid with Pugna. But this time GG took a Razor last-pick hero. But what really got people talking was GG's Lone Druid pickup. According to Gladiator's coach, Ace was feeling it, so they went with it.
Team Liquid started out strong, taking first blood and an early lead. GG put so much energy and time into the LD, but his radiance fight went terribly wrong and ended up costing them much. However, a disastrous seige ended horribly wrong for Team Liquid setting things back to even between the two teams about 23 minutes in.
Another aggressive engagement from Team Liquid and another disaster for them. The Lone Druid bear just became way too much to handle, proving that GG was right to listen to Ace. Taking the victory, the series was set back to even with a 1:1 tie.
For the third match Team Liquid once again began with the Pugna and GG with Muerta. After the draft, TL coach said
“Gaimin always gets us in the finals, but this isn't the finals”
The early game was shaping up to be very much in favor of Gaimin Gladiators. Outlaned and outpaced Team Liquid was quite behind and struggling. Gaimin Gladiators were getting everything on the map with max efficiency and TL was just starting to crumble as they couldn't gain enough ground. The game just went horrible for TL and it became brutally painful to watch. Unfortunately for Team Liquid, it wasn't the finals but Gaimin got them in the end.
Team Liquid wasn't able to flip the narrative and will go home in 5-6th place with $101,647 in their pockets.
Gaimin Gladiators will continue to advance through the lower brackets later tonight, Sunday, October 29 at 03:00 CET
The International 2023 Main Event format
Main Event - October 20 - October 22 (Playoffs Weekend) & October 27 - October 29 (Finals Weekend), 2023
- Sixteen teams play in a double-elimination bracket
- Eight teams begin in the Upper Bracket, and eight in the Lower Bracket
- Grand Final is Bo5, all other series are Bo3
The International 2023 Broadcasts
The event will be officially streamed in five different languages - English, Chinese, Russian, Spanish, and Portuguese. In addition, there will be other streams with various languages available for fans across the globe.
English:
Twitch: Main Channel
Russian:
Twitch: Main Channel
Chinese:
Twitch: Main Channel
Spanish Streams:
Twitch: Main Channel
Portuguese Streams:
Twitch: Main Channel
