Azure Ray Wins Dota 2 ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023

Sunday marked the Grand Finals of the Dota 2 ESL One Kuala Lumpur and it really was fantastic series. Earlier in the day, Chinese team Azure Ray had to go up against Team Liquid in a 3 game lower bracket final that saw them clinch a win.

Then, they faced a 5 game slog against the final boss: Gaimin Gladiators. Everyone loves an underdog and the crowd was really behind Azure going into the final game. In the end, Azure Ray came out on top in the ultimate reverse sweep. It was their first victory of this calibre since the team’s inception.

Most Competitive Grand Finals in Some Time

Fans of Dota 2 are more than used to seeing Gaimin Gladiators in the grand finals of Majors. Their win streak in 2023 is already a thing of legend. But it’s not often they need to fight this hard. They haven’t gone to 5 games since their hard won victory over BetBoom at DreamLeague season 20.

Games 1 and 2 were extremely dominant from GG. Quinn’s Pangolier, Ace’s Broodmother and Dyrachyo’s Alchemist.  Azure Ray were well and truly on the back foot. Until they weren’t.

Since patch 7.35 dropped, it has seemed that the team that can adapt the quickest is the team that will win. We really saw Azure Ray adapting to GG’s playstyle live during a Grand Finals. It wasn’t an easy comeback in games 3 and 4 but one thing was certain: the early aggression and support rotation strategy was no longer working.

A New Champion of Dota 2 ESL One

Game 5 started well for Gladiators. They finally ran a game without a support Crystal Maiden, opting instead for Grimstroke and Gyrocopter supports. However, Azure Ray had them at every turn heading into the mid game and as they took over more and more of the map, there was very little that GG could do.

At a 10-2 scoreline and a 7k gold advantage just 20 mins into the game, Azure’s Outworld Destroyer mid pick was causing havoc, having barely been contested the rest of the tournament.

It’s rare to see GG defeated in such a way but Azure Ray have proved that Chinese Dota is here to stay. After a rough year on the international stage, this was the perfect way to close out 2023.