Under certain circumstances, Dota 2 matches can take hours to wrap up. This hasn’t been the case in today’s DPC Western Europe Regional Finals so far. Gladiators got themselves a second chance againstTeam Liquid after sweeping OG in two fast matches.
After suffering a formidable defeat against Liquid, Gladiators found themselves in the lower bracket facing first-round-winner OG. The expectations were high on both teams coming into the match due to the improvement they’ve been showing throughout the season. Despite lacking the star power most teams in the Western European DPC had, Gladiators and OG outperformed teams like Team Secret and Nigma throughout the season.
OG started off the first match with some comfort picks and tried out its strategy that allowed them to knock out Tundra in 23 minutes in the first round of the lower bracket. The team combined the Chen pick with early damage dealers, while Gladiators went with a standard fighting lineup.
The two drafts seemed equal on paper, but Gladiator’s Storm Spirit, BOOM, started snowballing in the laning stage and took over the game with the help of Ace’s Spirit Breaker and dyrachYO’s Wraith King. OG didn’t stand a chance. The team couldn’t find the space to farm their way back into the game and gave in to the pressure at the 25-minute mark.
The second match had a similar process since OG again picked early-game heroes that could give them the advantage around the mid-game. With Huskar, Clinkz, and Weaver in its ranks, OG were mentally ready to walk over Gladiators’ and potentially wrap up the game as early as possible.
Gladiators completely outplayed OG during the laning stage, allowing BOOM to snowball as Queen of Pain while dyrachYO’s Wraith King helped further extend the team’s gold lead. When heroes like Huskar and Clinkz fail to secure a decent start to a match, it becomes relatively tough for them to recover, and they certainly didn’t have the time in this match. The game ended at the 26-minute mark.
With this win, Gladiators will go up against Liquid in the DPC Western Europe Regional Finals. The two teams faced each other earlier in the tournament, and Liquid cracked down Gladiators’ defenses in two 35-minute matches.
