Gaimin Gladiators stormed home to win the Riyadh Masters at the Esports World Cup, defeating Dota 2 arch-rivals Team Liquid 3-0 to complete a near-flawless playoff run. It’s the first tournament win of the year for Gaimin, who have timed their return to form perfectly as TI 2024 approaches.

You might think that Gaimin was written off after a disappointing start to the Dota 2 calendar, especially considering the team was coming off a record-breaking 2023 season that included a TI final and three Major wins. They also barely made it into the upper bracket playoffs in Riyadh, but when push came to shove, Gaimin stepped up and left everyone behind to win the tournament and its $1.5 million USD prize.

"We put a lot of time into bootcamp and this tournament and went from really bad to really good. I'm just happy that we were able to take that back," Quinn said after his team's win, which shockingly marks the team's first top-four finish at LAN this year. TOfu explained that he was "super proud" of how the team has bounced back after their lackluster year so far. "We've been trying for weeks and months and especially in this last phase, we've put so much time, effort and passion into this whole project."

Gaimin stumbled through the incredibly long Riyadh groups, finishing tied with Spirit and OG; good enough to start the playoffs in the upper bracket. Here, Gaimin reached the next level, defeating Entity (now Cloud9) and the in-form Falcons before winning five straight against TL.