Gaimin Gladiators overcame an early deficit to beat BetBoom Team 3-2 on Sunday in the grand final of DreamLeague Season 20.
After GG opened the match with a 45-minute win on red, BetBoom Team won in 38 minutes on green before prevailing in 28 minutes on red to take a 2-1 lead. But with its back against the wall, Gaimin cruised from there, earning victories on red in 37 and 35 minutes to take home $300,000 and qualify for the Riyadh Masters in Saudi Arabia.
The United States’ Quinn “Quinn” Callahan led Gaming Gladiators with an average kills-deaths-assists ratio of 4.4-3.6-5.8. Danil “gpk” Skutin of Russia paced BetBoom with an average K-D-A mark of 5.4-1.8-9.2.
“To scrape it together and come back from losing game one in two series’ back to back, and then coming back 2-1 in a best of five, sticking it out and having the grit to win when we’re not at our peak feels amazing,” Callahan said. “BetBoom are a sick laning team and they were using that the entire tournament. Almost no one could keep up with them in terms of lanes.”
BetBoom Team punched their ticket to the grand final by sweeping PSG.LGD. BetBoom made quick work of PSG in the upper-bracket final, claiming a 25-minute triumph on green before a 32-minute win on red.
PSG.LGD then dropped into the lower-bracket final, where they faced Gaimin. The Gladiators dropped the first map in 38 minutes on green, but bounced back to pick up a pair of victories on red.
Gaimin Gladiators had quite the run in the playoffs, playing the maximum number of matches after starting in the lower-bracket semifinals.
Sixteen Dota 2 teams from around the world were invited to DreamLeague Season 20 to compete for a $1 million prize pool. The winner received $300,000 and the runner-up earned $175,000, with the top two finishers also qualifying for the Riyadh Masters later this year.
Group Stage 1 ran from June 11-14, with a single round-robin format and all matches best-of-two. The top four teams from each group advanced to Group Stage 2 and formed one group of eight, featuring best-of-three matches. The top four finishers from Group Stage 2 qualified for a double-elimination playoff stage.
DreamLeague Season 20 prize pool:
1. $300,000, Riyadh Masters berth — Gaimin Gladiators
2. $175,000, Riyadh Masters berth — BetBoom Team
3. $120,000 — PSG.LGD
4. $85,000 — Talon Esports
5. $52,500 — Team Spirit
6. $47,500 — Evil Geniuses
7. $42,500 — 9Pandas
8. $37,500 — Team Aster
9-10. $25,000 — Tundra Esports, beastcoast
11-12. $20,000 — Team Secret, Shopify Rebellion
13-14. $15,000 — TSM, OG
15-16. $10,000 — Team Liquid, Entity
–Field Level Media