Team Spirit are your PGL Wallachia Season 1 Dota 2 Champions as they win the inaugural season in a thrilling encounter with Xtreme Gaming in the grand finals and the lion’s share of a staggering $1,000,000 prize pool.
Team Spirit’s journey in the tournament was no less than inspiring as we saw the reigning TI champions crawl back out of their caves and regain their form.
They displayed exceptional teamwork and skills throughout the tournament, especially after being knocked down to the lower bracket by Xtreme Gaming.
In the process, they defeated some of the best Dota 2 teams in the world like Boom Esports, G2.IG and the tournament favourites Team Falcons and eventually made their way back to the grand finals to meet the unbeaten Xtreme Gaming once again.
After being relegated to the lower bracket at the playoffs of the inaugural PGL Wallachia Season 1, Team Spirit sprang an unlikely resurgence in their form – one that saw them clinch 2 TIs. Their series against Team Falcons was the best one out of the lot as it went to full three games.
Team Spirit’s experience, composure and winner’s mindset shone through. They secured a convincing victory in a thrilling best-of-three lower bracket final against Team Falcons.
The grand final was a great affair with both teams vying for the ultimate glory and bragging rights to crown themselves as the PGL Wallachia Season 1 winner.
The first game worked in XG’s favour with some orthodox draft from the Chinese team as they picked Dark Seer and Riki – two heroes seldom picked this event. They were clinical to the “T” and didn’t give any chance, except a slight hiccup, to Team Spirit to mount a comeback.
The second game worked in Team Spirit’s favour with orthodox drafts from both teams, especially TS who opted for Juggernaut and Pugna, two heroes not picked often in this tournament.
Both teams were neck-to-neck in terms of gold and XP lead, courtesy of XG picking up at least 3x bounty runes compared to TS, but it wasn’t enough for the Chinese to stop the onslaught of the TI champions, thus levelling the series.
The third game was all Yatoro show until it wasn’t, as Team Spirit choked pretty hard after accumulating a decent 22k gold lead at one point during the game. It seemed TS had the game in their pockets with Yatoro on his signature hero Sven, striking fear into the hearts of his opponents.
But it was Ame’s silent showstopper moment as he carried XG on his shoulders on an incredibly farmed Gyrocopter, thus outclassing TS in game three and taking the lead.
It seemed like Team Spirit wouldn’t let the defeat in game 3 slide easily. They bounced back hard in the fourth game which saw Xtreme Gaming dumbfounded.
The game was over for XG the moment it began as TS sailed through the muddied waters with ease with the pure aggressive draft the latter opted for with Zeus, Pugna and Slardar in the fold.
The fifth game was an absolute thriller. Like TI10, Yatoro played yet another different carry hero, currently not favoured highly in the meta, making it a risky manoeuvre.
Playing Anti-Mage, TS displayed their versatility and fearlessness to try new drafts and fully take advantage of the element of surprise. XG’s chances to win the tournament were slipping faster than the sands of time, and TS finally won their first Dota 2 tournament of the year.
The final score was 3:2 in Team Spirit’s favour.
Team Spirit will now return home and rest before preparing for the Dota 2 Riyadh Masters 2024. They aren’t going to participate in the upcoming DreamLeague Season 23 due to their failure to qualify for the event through the regional qualifiers.
However, based on their current EPT points, they are almost virtually guaranteed a direct invite for the Dota 2 Riyadh Masters 2024, with a nearly 80% chance, despite not participating in DreamLeague Season 23.
However, if they fail to earn a direct invite, they will have to go through the regional qualifiers to qualify for the event and defend their throne, as Team Spirit won the Riyadh Masters 2023.
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