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The Final Three Teams at The International 2023
The International 2023 is reaching its climax with only one day remaining for the tournament. Out of the twenty teams that participated, only three have made it to the final day. Interestingly, this year, the top three teams come from different regions as opposed to last year when all three were from Western Europe. The current top teams at The International 2023 represent Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and China.
Team Spirit, Gaimin Gladiators, and LGD Gaming will represent Eastern and Western Europe and China, respectively, on the final day of The International 2023.
Team Spirit’s Journey
Credits: Team Spirit
During the DPC Season, Team Spirit had a mixed bag of results. However, their performance picked up closer to The International 2023, where they won two trophies - The Riyadh Masters 2023 and DreamLeague Season 21. At TI12, they showed their strength by remaining undefeated throughout the group stage.
Additionally, they dominated their upper bracket series against both Virtus Pro and Team Liquid. Before securing a place in the grand finals, they also won a clean series against LGD Gaming. This is the second time Team Spirit has reached the TI grand final. They had previously won a TI title with a different mid-laner.
Based on their recent performance, the team is currently at their peak and seem unstoppable. All the players in the tournament are afraid of Illya "Yatoro" Mulyarchuk, the team's safelaner, as he has proven to perform exceptionally well under pressure. In addition, Team Spirit are the top contenders to win The International 2023.
LGD Gaming
Credits: Twitter.@LGDgaming
LGD Gaming is the dark horse among the remaining top three teams in the tournament. Although they dominated their region, they couldn’t make a deep run at LANs. However, they found their momentum during the group stage of The International 2023 and have kept it going since then.
They topped their groups and won two clean upper bracket series, first against Nouns and then against Azure Ray, the latter of which was their regional rivals. However, when they faced off against Team Spirit, who was on a different level, they got knocked down to the lower bracket. It's important to note that the LGD Gaming organization has had two top two finishes at The International.
Gaimin Gladiators
Image Source: Twitter. @GaiminGladiator
Out of the three teams, Gaimin Gladiators had the most successful 2023 DPC Season. Throughout the season, the team consistently finished in the top three of their region and won all the Major trophies. Unfortunately, at the Riyadh Masters 2023, the team suffered their first defeat of the season.
During The International 2023, the team had a slow start in the group stage, and a major upset in their seeding decider series forced them to enter the playoffs from the lower bracket without the safety net. Despite this setback, Gaimin Gladiators dominated through the lower bracket and eliminated all their opponents. Although they played textbook-style Dota 2, they achieved promising results at the end of the day.
It would be a great delight for the fans to witness a grand final between Gaimin Gladiator and Team Spirit. However, it's been a decade since a team from Eastern Europe and a team from Western Europe have faced each other in the TI grand finals. The last time it happened, Western Europe emerged as the winner, with Alliance defeating NAVI 3-2 in the series.
Only two series are left to be played at The International 2023. The first one is the lower bracket final, featuring Gaimin Gladiators and LGD Gaming. The winner of this series will then proceed to the Grand Finals, where they will face Team Spirit later today.
Featured Image Source: Twitter/@wykrhm
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