Different year, same result. Gaimin Gladiators sweep Team Liquid in the Riyadh Masters 2024 grand finals.
“It’s a story as old as time,” said Austin "Cap" Walsh at the beginning of game three in the best-of-five grand finals, as Gaimin Gladiators were one win away from becoming the first team to claim the Esports World Cup title in the Dota 2 category.
Gaimin Gladiators and Team Liquid rewound the clock at Riyadh Masters, delivering a replay of their 2023 showdown. Both teams came prepared for fast-paced Dota, with Liquid and GG playing some of the fastest games in the tournament. However, Gladiators had their engines revved higher than anyone else.
Heading into the Riyadh Masters 2024 grand finals, Gaimin Gladiators and Team Liquid had faced each other in five previous grand finals. GG led the series 5-0, having seemingly decoded Team Liquid's strategies to the finest details.
Their sixth confrontation began with Team Liquid banning GG’s most successful heroes in Riyadh. Gaimin had an 87.50% win rate on Chaos Knight (in 8 games) and 83.33% on Brewmaster. However, banning these heroes allowed GG to start the series with a Broodmother carry and dominate their opponents. Game one ended before the 25-minute mark with a kill score of 18 to 4 for GG.
Broodmother appeared in the draft for game two as well, this time in the offlane, with Alchemist as the carry. Although Liquid managed to extend the game, GG's lineup proved overwhelming.
One win away from the title, Gaimin allowed Liquid to run a mid lane Tiny, possibly setting a trap. Gaimin Gladiators, one of the few teams to have figured out how to counter Tiny, demonstrated their strategy effectively, securing their victory against Liquid.
These five players will be immortalized as the RiyadhMasters x EsportsWorldCup 2024 Champions:
- dyrachyoo
- ccncdota2
- AceDota
- tOfuDota2
- Seleri4096
Riyadh Masters 2024 marks the first championship title for Gaimin Gladiators, who seem to have rediscovered their form and are heading to The International 2024 after a dominant performance at the inaugural edition of the Esports World Cup.
Riyadh Masters 2024 Prize Pool and Champions Club Points Distribution
- 1st place: $1,500,000 / 1,000 points – Gaimin Gladiators
- 2nd place: $800,000 / 600 points – Team Liquid
- 3rd place: $600,000 / 350 points – Team Falcons
- 4th place: $400,000 / 200 points – Tundra Esports
- 5th-6th place: $300,000 / 90 points – BetBoom Team
- 7th-8th place: $200,000 / 30 points – WBG.XG / Team Spirit
- 9th-12th place: $100,000 – Aurora / Entity / LGD Gaming / OG
- 13th-14th place: $70,000 – Heroic / beastcoast
- 15th-16th place: $40,000 – Blacklist International / MOUZ
- 17th-18th place: $25,000 – Virtus.pro / nouns
- 19th-20th place: $15,000 – Azure Ray / G2 x iG