Dota 2 ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023: Gaimin Gladiators, Azure Ray, and Team Liquid survive to final day

Only three teams remain after the penultimate day of ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023, the last big Dota 2 tournament of the year, on Saturday (16 December).

The International (TI) 2023 runners-up Gaimin Gladiators are the first team to qualify for the Grand Finals after they swept China's Azure Ray in the upper bracket finals.

Meanwhile, Western European powerhouse Team Liquid rounded out the Top 3 after they swept Eastern Europe's BetBoom Team, who were coming off their own sweep over China's G2.iG.

Here's how all the action in the penultimate day of ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023 went down:

Lower bracket quarterfinals

BetBoom Team 2-0 G2.iG

BetBoom kicked the day off by booting G2.iG out of Kuala Lumpur in back-to-back stomps to earn the right to challenge Liquid at the end of the day. In both games, BetBoom handily won the laning stage and snowballed to comfortable wins.

Game one saw BetBoom methodically pick apart G2.iG in 36 minutes to open the series. Ivan "Pure" Moskalenko on Axe paced his team's 18-8 kill lead with six kills and assists apiece on one death while Egor "Nightfall" Grigorenko on Terrorblade put up a clean five kills and seven assists.

Game two was an even more one-sided affair even if G2.iG managed to survive for 47 minutes, as BetBoom simply ran them over to finish with a 30-7 kill lead.

Nightfall on Lifestealer led the way with 10 kills and 10 assists on just one death. Pure on Dawnbreaker and Vitalie "Save-" Melnic on a support Muerta pitched in with six kills apiece and a combined 30 assists on three deaths between the two of them.

Upper bracket finals

Gaimin Gladiators 2-0 Azure Ray

The second match of the day saw Gaimin Gladiators absolutely demolish Azure Ray in two games that lasted 30 minutes or less to become the first team in the Grand Finals.

Gaimin Gladiators flexed their muscles in game one with a surprise mid Slardar pick for Quinn "Quinn" Callahan to initiate for Anton "dyrachyo" Shkredov's Weaver and Marcus "Ace" Hoelgaard's Dark Seer. The TI runners-up dominated the laning stage and never looked back, taking their first win of the series in just 28 minutes of action.

Dyrachyo paced his team's 46-16 kill lead with 16 kills and 16 assists on three deaths while Quinn pitched in with 14 kills and 23 assists on three deaths.

Game two was even more of a stomp as Gaimin Gladiators trotted out their tried-and-tested Alchemist pick for dyrachyo to combine with Quinn's Invoker and Ace's Timbersaw. While Azure Ray managed to hang on past the 30-minute mark, it never looked like they had a chance as Gaimin Gladiators closed things out with a 33-11 kill lead.

It was a balanced attack from Gaimin Gladiators this time around. Quinn led the way with nine kills and 16 assists on one death, Ace had eight kills and 13 assists on four deaths, while dyrachyo and Erik "tOfu" Engel on Rubick each had seven kills on a combined three deaths.

Lower bracket semifinals

Team Liquid 2-0 BetBoom Team

The day closed out with Team Liquid securing a spot in the Top 3 by soundly sweeping a surging BetBoom thanks in large part to back-to-back stellar performances from stand-in offlaner Jonáš "SabeRLight-" Volek.

Game one was a back-and-forth affair. Both teams were on relatively even footing after the laning stage before BetBoom scored a teamwipe on Liquid that gave them the gold advantage through the half hour-mark.

Liquid then chipped away at their opponents' lead with clean pickoffs before they scored a huge teamwipe at 34 minutes that eventually allowed them to claim their first win of the series after 42 minutes of action.

SabeRLight on Mars led the way for Liquid with nine kills and nine assists on three deaths, pacing the team's kill 27-13 lead. Michael "miCKe" Vu on Medusa also pitched in with seven kills and 10 assists on four deaths.

In game two, Liquid came out of a bloody early game with the gold lead and never looked back. Once again, SabeRLight's Mars played a key role in scoring pickoffs and winning teamfights for Liquid as they secured the 2-0 series sweep after 35 minutes.

MiCKe paced his team's 40-18 kill lead with 13 kills and six assists on two deaths while SabeRLight had 10 kills and 24 assists on four deaths. Michał "Nisha" Jankowski on Pangolier also added eight kills and 16 assists on just one death.

With today's results, Gaimin Gladiators have guaranteed themselves at least a second place finish and US$175,000 in winnings. Of course, they have their sights set on the US$300,000 grand prize and the opportunity to close out the year with another championship trophy added to this year's loaded case.

Both Azure Ray and Team Liquid are also guaranteed at least third place and US$120,000 in winnings.

Meanwhile, BetBoom Team bow out in fourth place and US$85,000 for their efforts while G2.IG exit in 5th-6th place with US$57,500 in consolation.

The ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023 main event is being hosted at the Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre from 15 to 17 December, where the champions will walk away with the grand prize of US$300,000 out of the tournament's US$1 million prize pool.

For everything you need to know about ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023, check here.

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