The main stage of the main tournament of this winter, Lima Major 2023, begins in Peru. There are 12 teams left in the race for the title of champions and material prizes.
Gaimin Gladiators and Team Liquid will open the main stage of the South American. The match promises to be hot, and it's hard to come up with something better than confrontation between Western Europe and China in the very first playoff game.
Gaimin Gladiators took TOP-2 in their region during the first season. As part of Lima Major 2023, residents of Western Europe took TOP-1 in Group A: the team won 11 maps out of 16 played.
Aster, like GG, took second place in the home league. At Lima Major 2023, the team ended up in Group B, where at the last moment they managed to get into the TOP-4 and start chasing the championship from the upper bracket.
We figure out what to expect from the first bo3 championship. We will find out which of the teams will move forward along the upper part of the bracket, and who will continue to perform at the tournament from the bottom of the bracket.
Gaimin Gladiators Uniform
Let's start the analysis of the match with Gaimin Gladiators' uniform. In this fight, they act as the favorite.
The bookmaker is satisfied with the performance of the “gladiators” in the group stage. For the victory of GG already in the playoffs, they give a coefficient of around 1.4.
Such a figure opposite the “gladiators” looks more than logical. The team earned itself the status of a favorite with a good game in the group stage.
Gaimin Gladiators line-up
Even after the autumn transfer window, the Gladiators looked like a team that did not lose much. As it turned out a little later, the team only acquired after a spot replacement.
Gaimin Gladiators Players
DyrachYO
Quinn
Ace
tOfu
Celeri
Quinn, who replaced BOOM in the mid position, fit in well with the team and Gladiators began to play with renewed vigor. In the 2023 season, the team looks very worthy, and the performances at the Major are proof of this.
Quinn, who joined the team, is able to play a utility role, but does not mind playing the first number. The latter happens when DyrachYO “turns off”, which is typical for this character.
Performance Gaimin Gladiators
GG finished the first season of Western Europe in second place. The team won 5 matches out of 7, thus securing their position.
In addition to DPC, they played at third-party tournaments. One of these was the BB Xmas Show, where the “gladiators” tested the new line-up. They did it with taste, having won the same Team Spirit in the grand final.
Then the club played at BB Universe - Comics Zone. This time Xmas Show failed to repeat the successes: Team Spirit knocked out GG, leaving them on the 3rd line.
Gaimin Gladiator made their debut with a match against Talon Esports. In that game, the residents of Southeast Asia took the card, which was quite a surprise.
The next game was against Team Spirit. The Dragons failed to beat their usual opponent and lost the game with a score of 0-2.
On the second day of Lima Major 2023, we played against Tundra Esports and EHOME. Both Glad games
Heroes Gaimin Gladiators
The most picked character for Gaimin Gladiators in the Lima Major 2023 group stage was Treant Protector. The hero has appeared in GG games 9 times and has a 77% win rate.
Another favorite choice was Rubick and Lina. Both characters picked 8 times and won 6 games each.
Puck and Undying round out the top five most popular GG characters in the group stage. Heroes were chosen 7 times, and they won 85% of the time.
Team Aster Uniform
Team Aster lined up on the other side of the barricades. The team will appear before us in the status of an outsider.
Team Aster's chance to win is estimated by odds around 2.7. Aster is an outsider with a significant lag.
In the case of the second Chinese team, the almost twofold gap looks really big. The point here is the decline of the entire Chinese region, and not just Team Aster.
Team Aster roster
In a good way, the second team in China should have reached the playoffs of the major without much difficulty. But this is if we take into account the pre-tournament balance of power.
Players
Monet
xwy
xxs
BoBoKa
Siamese.C
As part of Aster, almost the best representatives of the modern Chinese scene are collected. The performers are serious, but even they barely managed to jump into the playoffs, and all because of the general decline in the region.
Team Aster Performance
The team took TOP-2 in the home DPC 2023: China - Upper Division. As a result, I had to give way to PSG.LGD, first losing in the regular season, and then in tiebreaks.
We got to the playoffs with grief in half. In regulated matches, we played enough in tiebreaks, and already in replays, in a tight b3 match, we defeated beastcoast.
In the first two days, the team played 3 matches: against beastcoast, Shopify Rebellion and BB Team. All three teams are direct competitors to Aster, and all 3 matches ended in a draw for China's TOP-2.
On the third day of games, Aster played a draw with Entity, and after that they lost to HellRaisers with a score of 0-2. Then there were two clean wins: against Knights and Geek Slate, and then the expected loss from Liquid on two maps, but not without a struggle.
Heroes Team Aster
At Lima Major 2023, Team Aster uses very unique heroes. The most popular character in their picks is Phoenix (9 matches, 77% of wins).
Meta Rubick plays poorly: 8 fights, 37% win rate. Tiny feels much better (6 matches, 66% of wins).
Enchantress has a 100% win rate over 5 games, Troll Warlord has an 80% win rate, and Beastmaster has a 60% win rate. Among the characters with 5 games, Magnus and Tusk fared the worst with 40% win rates in all games.
History of personal confrontations
Before the start of Lima Major 2023, the teams did not play each other. This match will be the debut face-to-face confrontation for the teams.
The outcome of the fight
In this match, I expect a bright fight with a full-fledged bo3. As for the winner, I see them as Gaimin Gladiators.
Perhaps the Europeans will not be able to win dry, but I have no doubts about the victory. Chinese clubs this season look like never before, Aster is no exception.
Based on the experience of major tournaments, such as The International 2022, we have seen that Chinese teams are able to turn on at a distance, but I'm afraid this will not happen this season.
Outcome: victory for Gaimin Gladiators.
