Spirit eliminates Aster from the Arlington Major to secure another final against PSG.LGD

It has been over 10 months since we saw Team Spirit's fairytale run at TI10 when they toppled down Dota 2 giants, PSG.LGD. Today, the PGL Arlington Major, which serves as the final stop before TI11, turns out to be a deja vu for players and fans. Time flies but the powerhouses remain - Team Spirit and PSG.LGD once again takes the final stage, this time for the Arlington Major.

During TI10, Team Spirit was an underdog who completed a Lower Bracket run to knock down world champions, one after the other. This time around, Spirit stood high among the favorites but PSG.LGD remains the one massive hurdle they have yet to overcome. PSG.LGD has just been completely dominant, not dropping a single series in the Arlington Major so far.

Before Team Spirit secured their way to the Finals, they had a minor scare against Team Aster - a team known to demolish the Chinese region. Team Aster was fresh off dismantling OG and they were ready to do the same to Team Spirit. Here is what happened in the Lower Bracket Finals series between Spirit and Aster.

Despite having beaten Team Aster before, this series looked a little scary for Spirit. In the first game, Aster had a good start. They roamed and hunted as 5, picking off a bunch of kills around the map. With a pesky Brewmaster on their side, Aster disrupted Spirit's movement.

However, Spirit played their cards right. With precise Dooms and calculated control over the map, Spirit took charge of teamfights. Gradually, they accumulated an insane net worth lead with over 40K gold difference at 41 minutes. By the late game, there was nothing Aster could do and the win probability said it all.

In the second game, panels and casters were caught off-guard. A Collapse.. Chen? Team Spirit had a pretty ordinary draft until Chen was assigned to Collapse. But it turns out to be a misclick. After a moment, Collapse is back on his signature Mars and Miposhka on the Chen.

But let's not get distracted from Aster's powerful draft. With a Death Prophet on the midlane against TORONTOTOKYO's Storm Spirit, Aster successfully shut down Spirit's backbone. DP has a long duration silence that easily shuts down Storm Spirit and we saw a tragic result of the matchup.

With the Storm unable to come online, Spirit suffered a long game filled with sad faces. Yatoro's Juggernaut maintained a high farm and led the net worth chart and from that perspective, it seemed like the game was balanced. But it is far from equal.

Monet delivered beautiful Chronospheres, alongside a Tiny Toss combo and Dawnbreaker's global ultimate. With no solutions to the deadly draft, Spirit surrendered the second game and the series turned into a BO1.

The final game saw another great draft by Aster and it would seem like the game could be a balanced affair. But Spirit landed themselves their signature, comfort heroes and they absolutely dominated the game. From the beginning, Spirit commanded the map. An IO-Mars combination led the frontline and Collapse landed some insane Spears throughout the game. At one point of the game, Team Aster attempted to take Roshan but with the help of his allies, Collapse managed to snatch the Aegis. Spirit snowballed to victory and closed the game 2-1.

The Grand Finals of the Arlington Major begin right off the bat! The final Major of 2021/2022 DPC season ends today and we will finally see the crowning of the champions. Will Team Spirit deliver a repeat victory from TI10 or will PSG.LGD reign supreme? Watch the games live on PGL's Twitch broadcast!

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