Team Spirit Joins The Two-Time TI Winner Club
After a dominant performance in the Grand Final, Team Spirit has swept the Gaimin Gladiators with a score of 3-0 to win their second TI title.
It’s poetic that Gaimin Gladiators, the “most successful team of the year,” faced off against Team Spirit, who was gunning to take that title from them. Though it was a clean sweep, the Gladiators put up a great fight despite not winning a single map.
The first game of the series was simply an outdraft in favor of Team Spirit. Ace was picked his trusty Lone Druid but was shut down by Yatoro’s Weaver, who got multiple bear kills in the laning stage. Yatoro eventually got out of control and connected with the team to end the game early.
Game 2 was a closer affair, as the Gladiators made some great map movements to shut down Yatoro momentarily. The game was back-and-forth, but ultimately, some well-executed team fights and Chronospheres helped Team Spirit take the game.
At first, it looked like a Game 4 was on the cards, as the Gladiators played exceptionally well in the mid-game, killing Yatoro and Larl multiple times. The Gladiators continued to snowball their lead, building up a 96% win probability. However, Team Spirit picked off Gaimin's heroes multiple times to give themselves a fighting chance. Gaimin Gladiators lost their footing and allowed Team Spirit to pull off an insane comeback.
This result meant that OG are no longer the only team to have two-time TI winners. Four players are added to the list, while Larl has won his first TI.