tOfu: "You don't win games if you don't play well"

Gaimin Gladiators is going through a tumultuous phase. With Anton "dyrachyo" Shkredov leaving the squad, the gladiators are adjusting to  new carry Alimzhan "watson" Islambekov. So far the team's results have been mixed, with an eight place finish in BetBoom Dacha Belgrade.

After getting a draw against BetBoom Team, Erik "tOfu" Engel sat down to discus how the team is playing, what heroes Watson brings to the table, and what they need to improve on.

tOfu: "We're playing kinda bad individually but also as a team"

Gaimin Gladiators are suffering a slump right now. (Credit: ESL).

Gaimin Gladiators is 4-4 in Dreamleague Season 24 group stage. They need a top four finish in their group in order to advance. This is a far cry from the team's dominance last year and victory at Riyadh Masters 2024.

When asked why the team was struggling, tOfu was blunt that the team was playing badly right now.

"We're just not really in the zone, we're playing kinda bad individually but also as a team. Still trying to catch up. There's also the element of there is something new to it, with Watson, which we need to get used to it. Teams are also moving away from aura a bit, which we have played for a long time. So we're kinda trying to adjust. Games are also going a bit longer but I think that's mainly due to us not being that good early and you don't win games if you don't play well."

Getting a draw against BetBoom Team keeps Gaimin Gladiators in a relatively decent spot to make it to playoffs. As the team continues to adapt to their new carry, tOfu explained how critical it is to accumulate these victories in order to boost team morale.

"Very important. We have had a lot of ups and downs lately, winning, losing, trying to fix our ideas, what heroes we wanna play. Obiously we want to do our best to qualify and make it to second group stage. So I think it is really important, especially because we have another series later and and one tomorrow so you don't actually have that much time to progress. You have to build on the games so I am pretty glad we won."

tOfu: "There's also the aspect of late-game, where generally we have been bad"

Watson with Cloud 9 at TI13. (Credits: Valve)

In the past, Gaimin Gladiators focused on winning the laning stage and using that to snowball to victory. Dyrachyo was a good fit for the squad, as his playstyle was very active for a carry.

With Watson on the squad, the team has shifted to harder scaling carries. This includes Dragon Knight, which Gaimin used to great success in game two.

"Watson was asking for Dragon Knight because most of the ranged carries were banned, which he usually likes. He personally prefers agi carries and hitting people. We consider DK lower priority but everything else was banned so he wanted it. It also fit our lineup, just good overall"

With games going longer now than last year, teams have had to adapt to the late-game and ensure they keep scaling. Erik shared the team's current goals, to rotate better and improve decision making.

"Mainly it's important to look at the first 10 minutes, what's happening in the early game, is it hard because of lanes, what rotations we could have made better. There's also the new aspect of late-game, where generally we have been bad. Watson has good input on that but generally map movements and what to prioritize"

Catch Gaimin Gladiators live on Twitch to see how they adjust in the rest of the group stage.

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Featured Image Source: Valve