Gaimin Gladiators secures Top-Three In Riyadh Masters 2024

The upper bracket semi-finals at Riyadh Masters 2024 have concluded. One of those series was Gaimin Gladiators against Team Falcons. In their first encounter at Riyadh Masters 2024, Gaimin took a dominant clean sweep.

Team Falcons failed to avenge their group-stage defeat in their rematch. After the series, Gaimin Gladiators' Quinn "Quinn" Callahan reflects on what happened in the Bo3.

Quinn: " I think Tiny is a strong hero, but it's a lesser of evils"

In the first game, Team Falcons showcased a dominant performance. Though the game started slow, Falcons picked up the pace with their midlane hero, Tiny. In this match, Gaimin did not hesitate or showed fear going up against Tiny, a hero that has become a nightmare for many teams in the tournament.

Crash Landing needs some nerf ASAP. (Credits: Valve)

They planned a way to counter this hero. Though they did not succeed on the first try, it did reveal what Gaimin could have done better. They incorporate these improvements in the second game. As a result, Gaimin took the second one under 30 minutes. Quinn brought us along with Gaimin's thinking process in his post-game interview.

" We played against the hero a decent amount in scrims and officials. We also played against Tiny both games in the group stage against Falcons. So, I think it's a strong hero; but it's a lesser of evils and the other heroes, we just would rather ban and give them the Tiny. It's a known quantity, and it's also only mid as opposed to flex."

After their defeat with Tiny in the second game, Team Falcons lost their faith in the hero. In the third game, the hero made it through to the end of the drafting phase, but neither team picked it.

Quinn shared his thoughts on current midlane matchups

At the deciding match, Team Falcons went with a cheesy draft, which consisted of Huskar. Additionally, their midlaner and offlaner also swapped their respective roles.

There's a reason why this guy is one of the best midlaners. (Credits: Valve)

Despite having a bad midlane matchup, Gaimin took the game at 28 minutes. In his post-game interview, Quinn discussed what it's like to lane against Huskar with Ember Spirit in the current patch.

" It's a pretty horrific matchup, for sure; It's not as bad as it was before. The old Q is better early on, and you have a little issue with W. Whatever, small crap. It's horrific, but I have teammates. I grieved pretty hard that game, but I got carried so thank you."

After the second game, The player continued to discuss what could've happened to Falcon's in-game confidence. He also handed some notes that his opponents could address, instead of going a cheesy route.

" I think they just lost a little bit of faith in the hero. It's classic in the best of three – you lose with a hero; you don't want to pick it so much in the next game. Generally, I think that's what happened. They also lost it against Brew. There's some hard dynamics in that matchup. I think it's fair."

Ace reflects on his in-game performance

After the series, Gaimin Gladiators' offlaner, Marcus "Ace" Christensen, joined the panel for an interview. Though Falcons shut him down on Underlord during the first game, the player puts on an outstanding performance with Brewmaster in the second game.

Ace at The International 2023 backstage. (Credits: Valve)

As a result, his hero was first picked in the third game. In his interview, Ace expressed his confidence in this action.

"I was thinking about it myself. I came to Cy and also talked about it to tOfu. Cy was already we're doing that. He already thought about it."

Before the start of Riyadh Masters 2024, many teams had boot camps to train for the tournament. Gaimin Gladiators was one of those teams. Ace also discussed how boot camps could improve the overall synergy of a team.

" It's very important for us that we like get going basically. We play so much. Once we're not playing, people on break, take vacations and stuff. Even coming into the group stage, I feel like we are still kinda slow. It takes a while before we get started and get our stuffs together. Our team likes to be a lot on the same page instead of everybody playing individual Dota so I think it's very important."

Their victory against Team Falcons assured Gaimin Gladiators a top-three finish at Riyadh Masters 2024. Additionally, by figuring out how to overcome the Tiny draft, they're the biggest threat in the tournament. Stay tuned to our website for the latest coverage of all the action unfolding at the Riyadh Masters 2024.

Featured Image Source: Valve

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