The unimaginable finally happened! Gaimin Gladiators receive their first series loss and it was to none other than 9Pandas!
An unprecedented event has unfolded, as the Gaimin Gladiators, who have yet to lose a series since June 23, finally incurred their first defeat at Riyadh Masters 2023. And it was against one of their biggest rivals, 9Pandas, no less.
In their Riyadh Masters Group Stage match on July 23, 9Pandas beat Gaimin 2-0. The series was very close as both games took at least 40 minutes with very little net-worth difference. The two teams were in fairly equal standing even though 9Pandas were the ones who came out on top. The last time Gaimin lost a series was to another Eastern European squad, BetBoom Team, at DreamLeague Season 20, exactly one month ago.
An intense grudge match between Gaimin and 9Pandas
Although 9Pandas won both games, the victory was not a landslide by any means. 9Pandas had to work hard for their keep. In the first game, 9Pandas commandeered the advantage pretty much throughout the whole match. However, Gaimin Gladiators manage to reel them back and brought the net worth to a near equalizer towards the end. The gold difference was only about 2,000.
In one of the last, most intense fights between the two sides, Gaimin were knocking on 9Pandas' doors at the bottom barracks. For a while, it did look like Gaimin had the game in the bag. However, the symphony of skills and well coordinated strike concocted by 9Pandas prevented that from ever happening. They then sent the full brunt of their force and piled on the raid boss Terrorblade who even had an Aegis.
Game two on the other hand was a lot more intense on 9Pandas as Gaimin had the upper hand about 90 percent of the time. The gold swung from Gaimin right onto 9Pandas literally in the last two minutes of the game. Matvey "MieRo`" Vasyunin Enigma with his high precision Black Holes is deserving of the MVP title. He was the only player on 9Pandas that did not lose a single life in that second game.
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9Pandas finally took their revenge
The rivalry between the two teams, especially between RAMZES666 and Quinn, has been one of the most highlighted stories of 2023. However, Gaimin Gladiators usually get the better of 9Pandas. From the start of the year until this very day, 9Pandas have not been able to beat Gaimin at all aside from a couple of draws. Now, they can celebrate the day when they finally took Gaimin down. Let's see if they can keep it up for the rest of Riyadh Masters and many other tournaments to come.
By defeating Gaimin Gladiators, 9Pandas successfully tied with Gaimin Gladiators for third place at the Riyadh Masters Group Stage along with PSG.LGD. They will next face their EEU brethren Team Spirit for their final Group Stage match on July 24.
Keep track of the Riyadh Masters schedule and results here and stay tuned to esports.gg for more Dota 2 news and updates!
