If the Dota 2 Arlington Major is a taste of what’s to come in The International, we may have a new two-time champion. That’s because despite PSG.LGD being the team favored to win, Team Spirit showed everyone what a TI champion is all about. With this win at the Arlington Major, Spirit takes home $200,000.
The two teams had met previously during the Upper Bracket Final where PSG.LGD managed to get the upper hand against Spirit with a 2–0 win. That meant Spirit had to defeat Team Aster to once again face PSG.LGD.
The first game of the Grand Final showed that PSG.LGD was indeed ready. The team had a good draft, especially with the Pudge pick for Wang “Ame” Chunyu. Ame would have a superb performance on Pudge, allowing his team to snowball and get the lead in the series at 1-0.
For the second game, both teams were evenly matched until PSG.LGD started to slowly come ahead. But things turned around for Spirit when Illya "Yatoro" Mulyarchuk managed to get a Divine Rapier for his Monkey King. The last team fight would see Yatoro getting a Rampage and PSG.LGD calling it GG.
In the third game, PSG.LGD again went for the Naga pick, but this time, Spirit was more than ready and had the last pick Sven. However, it was the combination of Magomed “Collapse” Khalilov on Beastmaster and Yaroslav “Miposhka” Naidenov on Shadow Demon that paved the way for Spirit's victory. With the two clearing out the jungle of PSG.LGD in the early game, it became difficult for the Chinese team to catch up with Sven.
Still, PSG.LGD felt confident and went for a team fight only to be wiped out a little later. PSG.LGD had no choice but to call it GG in just 27 minutes.
With their back to the wall, PSG.LGD knew they had to secure the fourth game, so they went for some signature heroes. Then again, Spirit pretty much did the same. PSG.LGD took an early lead, and it seemed they were about to tie the series. This didn't deter Spirit as they continued to be fearless in every team fight while PSG.LGD appeared to falter. Eventually, Spirit proved too much and defeated the opposition with the championship as the reward.
When it was clear that Team Spirit was going to be the champion, Alexander “TORONTOTOKYO” Khertek all-chatted “HATERS WHERE ARE YOU NOW?”
What about you? What was your favorite part of the Arlington Major? Dota 2 is available on PC.
