G2.iG and Azure Ray sets record for the longest Dota 2 Pro esports series

The Grand Final of the ESL One Birmingham 2024 Chinese qualifier saw one team qualify for the event. But the best-of-five series was a close one with neither team having a distinct advantage until the very end. In fact, this best-of-five series between G2.iG and Azure Ray broke the record of being the longest Dota 2 match series in history. 

The ESL One Birmingham is a million-dollar event to see some of the best Dota 2 teams in action. The tournament features 12 teams in competition and the winner will have the prestige of winning one of the first Dota 2 events of 2024. 

The Grand Finals match between G2.iG and Azure Ray lasted over five and a half hours. That’s 5.5 hours of exciting Dota 2 gameplay and at stake was a slot at ESL One Birmingham. 

The series started off with a lengthy game 1 that went almost 1.5 hours. The early game was largely even with both teams gaining some advantage at some point or the other. However, post a big teamfight win at the 70-minute mark, G2.ig emerged victorious to take a one-game lead. 

Azure Ray bounced back in Game 2 with a Troll Warlord and Phoenix combination. G2.iG’s Monet, on his Medusa, was unable to handle this deadly combination and Azure Ray managed to tie the series.

NothingToSay’s Primal Beast was simply unstoppable in Game 3 after a relatively good laning stage. With a Blink and refresher to his credit, NTS was able to tank a lot of the Azure’s AOE playstyle. Azure Ray had picked a Naga Siren and Enigma combination and were heavily dependent on their ultimates.

The fourth game was the longest game of the series at 1:47:50. The nearly two hours of gameplay might give an impression of a close game. But the networth graph indicates how Azure Ray had the advantage locked in from the early game and continued through.

The supports on G2.iG had a rough game with both supports accounting for double-digit deaths. But Azure Ray took their sweet time to finish the game, building upon their lead and ensuring they had a non-surmountable lead.

The reason for this delay was partly due to G2.iG’s counter-attack playstyle. With a Faceless void and Timbersaw in the game, it was always going to be one teamfight away from a big loss.

The final game saw G2.iG seal the series with a 3-2 victory and securing their place at ESL One Birmingham 2024. The entire series, of five games, ran for 5:34:40, which is five hours thirty-four minutes, and forty seconds.

The G2.iG vs Azure Ray series now brags of the title of being the longest series in Dota 2. But there have been quite a few series that have gone the distance and more. Here are all the top five longest series in Dota 2:

Interestingly the Cloud9 vs SCARYFACEZZZZ series is the third-longest series of all time in Dota 2. But the second game in that series holds the distinct record of being the longest Dota 2 game.

Cloud9 were the favorite to win that series and after a relatively quick game 1, fans were expecting a quick closure to the series. But Scaryfacezz managed to hold on to their base and the game went on for more than three hours. After a grueling 200 minutes of Dota 2, during which the game popped up quite a few bugs, Cloud9 had to take the series in the next game 3.

Dota 2 is a game that transforms with the length of the game. As we see Tier 5 items and all heroes getting six slotted items, it becomes a brawl. The Gold networth lead begins to matter even less as time progresses and map awareness and positioning matter more.

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