Esports World Cup Dota 2: Spirit show never-say-die attitude anew

Reigning Esports World Cup Dota 2 champions Gaimin Gladiators are now out of the tournament in absolutely appalling fashion, as they have just been swept by Team Spirit in one of the most impressive displays of resilience I’ve seen this season. Spirit were down 30,000 gold at one point in the first game, but managed to claw their way back into it after capitalizing on Gaimin’s critical late game mistakes.

They then proceeded to crush Gaimin in the second game, as if to say that their opponents just didn’t belong in the same stratosphere.

Game 1 — Nerves of Steel

The first game went poorly at first for Team Spirit, with the Gladiators enjoying a fantastic mid game timing thanks to their carry Marci and offlane Axe combination.

At one point, Ace even had as much as 60 armor on him, thanks to all of his items like Assault Cuirass. With the One Man Army facet, this also meant that he had a ridiculous amount of strength and health. He was having the time of his life, and looked absolutely unstoppable even through the late game.

Unfortunately for Gaimin, he made some big mistakes that allowed Team Spirit to turn things around. He was picked off a few times heading into the 40-plus minute mark, which slowly but surely gave Spirit some breathing room. As Spirit eventually got some more items on their cores, particularly on Chaos Knight, their damage output was suddenly way higher than what Gaimin’s lineup could deal with.

FINAL FIGHT OF THE FIRST MAP 😱 pic.twitter.com/Kz5uVaBWzI

— Team Spirit Dota 2 (@TSpirit_Dota2) July 16, 2025

At the 60 minute mark, Yatoro even got himself a Divine Regalia, which meant that basically anyone that he used Reality Rift (W) on would die in less than a second if he had Phantasm (R) illusions around. The rest of his team made sure to emphasize this, as Denis “Larl” Sigitov bagged himself a Stygian Desolator on Ember Spirit, while Magomed “Collapse” Khalilov provided even more armor reduction with Slardar’s Corrosive Haze (R).

Things started to snowball out of Gaimin’s control afterwards, as a full scale teamfight around the Dire side Roshan pit just went completely south for them. They managed to hold on with their Helms of the Undying, but in the end they just didn’t have nearly enough lives or damage output to get things done.

Game 2 — Spirited Away

It’s clear that Gaimin’s mental state was shattered completely because they didn’t put up much of a fight in the second one. They once again drafted the carry Marci for watson, but honestly, banking on such a wonky, risky pick at the carry slot when you’re facing elimination is questionable to say the least.

Meanwhile, Spirit drafted flawlessly, particularly with the EWC Dota meta heroes like Monkey King for Larl and the Templar Assassin for Yatoro. Quinn “Quinn” Callahan did get his hands on Puck, but he still lost the lane to Larl — which blew the map wide open for his Monkey King to start doing work. His 11 minute Diffusal Blade timing was an extremely bad omen for the Gladiators’ chances in this game, given how mana dependent their lineup was.

RIP GG's key ❌ pic.twitter.com/6MmASgeVsn

— Team Spirit Dota 2 (@TSpirit_Dota2) July 16, 2025

Gaimin managed to stay afloat for quite a while despite Larl rocketing out of the laning phase with such a fast core item, thanks to some good rotations which led to key pickoffs. Despite the heads-up plays, though, there was a looming sense of doom hanging over their heads, as Spirit were starting to approach their mid game timing.

True enough, Spirit’s draft kicked in at just the right time. Leveraging the absurd amount of teamfight present in their lineup, they aggressively forced the issue with the Gladiators whenever they could. I mean, Ravage (R) into Macropyre (R) into Ice Path (W) into Wukong’s Command (R) into Chaotic Offering (R)? I don’t care if you won Riyadh Masters last year — you’re not walking out of that in a 5v5 situation without BKBs.

And so Gaimin had to tap out in just under 40 minutes of play, though to be honest I think the game could have ended way earlier the way the Gladiators were playing. Team Spirit will therefore move to the semifinal round, where they will face the winner between Aurora Gaming and PARIVISION.