The group stage of the Lima Major 2023 is over. It turned out to be quite unpredictable: some favorites failed and the outsiders managed to show a good game. Teams from the CIS gave very different results. For example, Team Spirit achieved a very good record and made it to the upper bracket of the playoffs, while HellRaisers made it to the lower bracket. BetBoom Team, on the other hand, failed completely in the tournament. Read about the group stage of the Lima Major 2023 in the Telecomasia.net article.
Group A
The battle in Group A was very intense. Many teams had a chance to reach the upper bracket of the playoffs, but not all of them had enough discipline and skill to make it.
Playoffs Upper Bracket
Gaimin Gladiators finished the group stage with a 4-3-1 record, taking first place. The team was excellent in the DPC season, and now they are proving their worth in the Major. The team lost only to Evil Geniuses, and also tied with Execration, TSM, and Talon Esports. Gaimin Gladiators defeated all other opponents and won many of the maps with great ease. Now, the European team is one of the main contenders to win the Lima Major 2023. At the very least, they're certainly capable of reaching the top 3. The main strength of the Gaimin Gladiators is their ability to make good draft picks and right decisions in the later stages of the game.
Team Spirit, like the Gaimin Gladiators, finished the group with a 4-3-1 record. However, they finished in second place because they lost to GG in a head-to-head match. Still, the "Dragons" didn't look any weaker than the Gaimin Gladiators. They were extremely confident in finishing "their" games, and they always resisted their opponents even when they were close to winning and had a huge advantage. In other words, the team's spirit always showed. Thanks to this quality, the team won The International 10. And now they have a good chance to win the Lima Major 2023. If the guys can keep up their momentum, it will be hard to stop them.
Evil Geniuses finished third in the group stage with a 3-4-1 record. A great result for a team from South America. This was to be expected from the Peruvians playing on their home soil. Evil Geniuses beat Gaimin Gladiators, TSM, Tundra Esports, drew with Execration, PSG.LGD, Talon Esports, EHOME, and lost only one match - against Team Spirit. In the playoffs, Evil Geniuses will have an arena full of thousands of fans cheering them on. This will help the Peruvians perform at their best in the next phase of the tournament. If the stars align, EG might even win the Major and make history. This is a very realistic scenario for Evil Geniuses.
Talon Esports finished fourth in Group A, a rather unexpected result. Teams from Southeast Asia haven't done well in major tournaments in a long time. Talon Esports was expected to leave the Major after the group stage, or at best drop to the lower bracket, but they surprised everyone and ended up in the winners bracket. Talon Esports beat Execration, TSM, and EHOME in the group, lost to Tundra Esports, and tied everyone else. The team will face more serious competition in the playoffs. It is unlikely that the team will be able to handle it. The best they can hope for is a win or two. Talon Esports shouldn't expect more than that.
Playoffs Lower Bracket
PSG.LGD remained the strongest team in China after the lineup change and finished the last DPC season in first place. The team was supposed to make a decent showing at the Major, but the full roster couldn't make it to the venue. Offlaner Li Longwu was replaced by the legendary Ren ELeVeN Yangwei, which was clearly a setback for PSG.LGD. As a result, the team's scores were much worse than they could have been. PSG.LGD beat Tundra Esports and EHOME, lost to Gaimin Gladiators and TSM, and drew with everyone else. The team finished fifth in the group with a 2-4-2 record and only made it to the bottom of the playoffs. With an incomplete roster, PSG.LGD has little hope of making the playoffs. At best, it will play a few rounds in the losers bracket and that will be the end of its appearance at the Lima Major 2023.
Tundra Esports is one of the biggest failures of the current Major. The team had a poor DPC season, but then scored a very important win at BetBoom Universe: Episode I - Comics Zone, beating Team Spirit 3-2 in the Grand Final. It seemed like the European team was back, but that turned out to be a false impression. In the Lima Major 2023, Tundra Esports made a lot of mistakes and lost a lot of points they could have taken. And the mistakes were both individual and team. Tundra Esports finished the group stage of the Major in sixth place with a 3-1-4 record. It's unclear what to expect from this team in the playoffs. They could either be eliminated in the first round of losers or make it to the Grand Final and win it.
Tournament Exit
TSM performed worse than expected in the group stage of the Lima Major 2023. The team finished seventh in Group A with a 2-2-4 record, beating PSG.LGD and EHOME and drawing with Execration and Gaimin Gladiators. This kind of performance wasn't enough to make the playoffs, and the team was eliminated from the tournament. TSM was weaker than any team that made the playoffs, so it makes sense that they aren't there.
Execution played well in their native Southeast Asia, but failed to show their talent in Peru. They finished eighth in Group A with a 0-6-1 record. That's not to say the Asian team didn't put up a good fight. On the contrary, they managed to draw six matches with some of the strongest teams in the tournament. But that wasn't enough. A team has to win to make it to the playoffs, and Execration had serious problems with that. In their last match against Team Spirit, they lost without a chance. So it was only right that Execration left the Lima Major 2023.
EHOME was by far the weakest team in Group A. The team didn't win a single match and drew three times, against Execration, Evil Geniuses, and Team Spirit. Obviously, there was no way they could have advanced with that record. There's nothing to discuss. It's just a weak team that miraculously made it to the Major in Peru.
Group B
No one wanted to lose in Group B either. At least six teams were fighting for the top spot, but two of them were terrible and ended up with nothing.
Playoffs Upper Bracket
Going into the tournament, Team Liquid was considered the main contender, and now they have confirmed their status. As expected, the team was the strongest in Group B, finishing with a 6-2-0 record. Liquid only drew against Geek Slate and BetBoom Team. They won all of their other matches, and did it with a lot of confidence. After Nisha's arrival, Team Liquid completely reinvented themselves. They seem to have no weaknesses now. All of the players are solid in their roles, and the new midlaner is a driving force behind the team. Team Liquid is well positioned to make it to and win the Lima Major 2023 Grand Final. They are currently the strongest team in the tournament.
Entity was not considered a serious contender prior to the start of the Major, but they managed to show their mettle during the group stage. The team finished in second place with a 4-3-1 record. Entity lost only to Team Liquid and tied with Shopify Rebellion, Team Aster, and beastcoast. They beat everyone else. The team's new carry, Watson, did a great job and was able to take a few maps solo. The team plays very smoothly and accurately, making almost no mistakes, which is very appealing. If Entity plays as well as they did in the group, they can go far in the playoffs.
Shopify Rebellion showed us a mediocre game during the DPC season and lost to TSM, so no one expected them to be great at the Lima Major 2023. However, the North American representatives managed to make a decent showing. They finished the group with a 3-4-1 record, tying all the top teams and beating all the nominal underdogs. Only Team Liquid beat Shopify Rebellion, but that's pretty normal considering the level of Liquid's play. Shopify Rebellion made it to the top of the playoffs, but the team has not shown anything that can help them keep winning. It feels like the team will fizzle out very quickly and leave the tournament.
Team Aster is actually the strongest team in China right now, because they made it to the top of the playoffs, while PSG.LGD could only make it to the losers' bracket. But Team Aster had big problems in this Major. The team finished the group with a 2-4-2 record. Beastcoast had the same score, so they had to replay the game, and the Chinese team was stronger. The final score was 2-1. Team Aster can play a good game and win, but it seems that the team is not in the best shape right now. It's hard to imagine that they will reach at least the top 4 of the Major.
Playoffs Lower Bracket
Beastcoast didn't play their best in the group, and as a result, they only made it to the losers bracket of the playoffs. This is quite strange considering that the Peruvians are playing on home soil. However, if you look at Beastcoast's performance in other tournaments, you can see a pattern. This team always struggles to make the playoffs, but then consistently wins a few rounds to reach the top 8 or top 6 of the tournament. There's a good chance that the same thing will happen this time. And with the support the team will receive on stage, Beastcoast could go even further.
Before the start of the Lima Major 2023, HellRaisers were considered the weakest team of the tournament. A lot of people expected that the team wouldn't make it out of the group and would end up in last place at the Major. At first it looked that way. The team lost their first three matches against Geek Slate, Team Liquid, and Shopify Rebellion, but then they found their game and got pumped up. As a result, HellRaisers finished the group with a 3-1-4 record, tying Geek Slate for the most points. The teams played their replays and HellRaisers came out on top (2-0). That's a great result for the team that finished third in the CIS DPC season. What will happen next for HellRaisers is hard to predict. Most likely the team will lose in the first round of losers and be eliminated from the tournament. Let's hope that doesn't happen.
Tournament Exit
Geek Slate is another Southeast Asian representative to leave the Major after the group stage. The team finished seventh in Group B with a 2-3-3 record. That's not to say that Geek Slate didn't play well. The team was able to beat HellRaisers and Knights, as well as pick up a map in matches against three strong teams. Geek Slate knows how to play Dota 2, but they are severely hampered by inferior picks that make it extremely difficult to compete against meta drafts. If Geek Slate can fix this problem, they'll have a much better chance of winning the next major.
BetBoom team can safely be called the biggest disappointment of the Peruvian major. The guys had no problem becoming champions of their home region, but they could do nothing on the international stage. The team made terrible decisions in literally every game, didn't play as a unit and made too many stupid mistakes. As a result, BetBoom Team finished eighth in Group B (1-4-3), ahead of only Knights - cheaters and match fixers. BetBoom Team's only win of the tournament was against them. Of course, the team can be excused. Before the tournament started, gpK~ came down with a fever and had to play while sick. Other members of the team were rumored to be sick as well. However, even taking this into account, the BetBoom team played too poorly. You can see that there is some conflict or at least disagreement in the team. They'll need to resolve these issues before the next major so they don't embarrass themselves again.
Knights is hands down the worst team of Lima Major 2023. During the DPC season, they were first accused of using cheats, then of rigging matches, and both accusations were justified. However, Valve decided to take no action and allowed the Knights to play in the Major. At the tournament, the team only won one map against Shopify Rebellion, and lost the rest dramatically. Many of the matches looked like an easy 322 for the Knights. There's no proof, of course, but it's a big question why the third-place team in China can't show any competition at all in the Major. Hopefully Valve will look into this situation and add five new nicknames to their ban list.