Dota 2 Bali Major Playoffs day 4: Gaimin Gladiators, Tundra, Liquid survive to finals day

Only three teams remain standing after the penultimate day of the Dota 2 Bali Major.

Standing head and shoulders above the competition are two-time Major champions Gaimin Gladiators, who are now in position to claim their historic third-straight Major title in the 2023 Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) season.

Gaimin Gladiators soundly swept The International (TI) 2022 champions Tundra Esports in the upper bracket finals to become the first grand finalists of the Bali Major.

Facing Tundra in the lower bracket finals will be Team Liquid, who ran through the gauntlet in the lower bracket to make it to the Major's final day.

Meanwhile, three teams were knocked out of contention: China's PSG.LGD, Eastern Europe's 9Pandas, and ascendant Western European squad Quest Esports.

Quest knocked out PSG.LGD while Liquid defeated 9Pandas to meet in the lower bracket semifinals. Liquid then outlasted Quest in a hard-fought, three-game slugfest to round out the Top 3 of the Bali Major.

Here's how all the action in day four of the Bali Major Playoffs went down:

Quest Esports 2-0 PSG.LGD

Quest kicked things off in day four by knocking out the China's last representative in Bali, PSG.LGD, in a 2-0 sweep.

The ascendant Western European squad came out swinging to start the series, stomping their Chinese opponents in just 19 minutes of action. Ammar "ATF" Al-Assaf led the way with a clean nine kills on his unorthodox offlane Slark pick.

With their backs against the wall in game two, PSG.LGD put up a much better fight and drew things out to 57 minutes before ultimately conceding the series sweep. Aybek "TA2000" Tokayev had a perfect 12-kill, 11-assist performance on Morphling to help Quest advance to the lower bracket semifinals at the end of the day.

Team Liquid 2-1 9Pandas

The second match of the day saw Liquid defeat 9Pandas in a 2-1 reverse sweep to eliminate Eastern Europe's last remaining team from the Bali Major, turning the tournament into an all-Western European affair.

9Pandas had a flying start to the series, blindsiding Liquid in a 33-minute game one behind the one-two punch of Roman "RAMZES666" Kushnarev and Gleb "kiyotaka" Zyryanov. RAMZES had seven kills on three deaths as Terrorblade while kiyotaka put up eight kills on two deaths as Windranger.

Liquid struck back hard in game two, stomping 9Pandas to the tune of a 33-6 kill lead in just 23 minutes. Michael "miCKe" Vu on Death Prophet led the way with 12 kills against one death while Michał "Nisha" Jankowski on Death Prophet added a clean 11 kills of his own.

Liquid didn't let up in game three, completing the reverse sweep in a 27-minute rout. Nisha on Ember Spirit and Ludwig "zai" Wåhlberg on Primal Beast racked up 16 kills apiece to fuel their team's 45-16 kill lead.

Gaimin Gladiators 2-0 Tundra Esports

The upper bracket finals then saw Gaimin Gladiators utterly dominate Tundra in a 2-0 sweep to earn their third-straight Major grand finals appearance this season.

Quinn "Quinn" Callahan had a show-stopping performance in game one as Timbersaw. He racked up a whopping 19 kills to fuel his team's 36-11 kill lead while only having two deaths in a 34-minute rout.

Quinn then continued his excellent showing in game two, this time on Windranger, by putting up 12 kills and 13 assists on just one death. Erik "tOfu" Engel on Lion and Melchior "Seleri" Hillenkamp on Enchantress also had six kills apiece to help pace Gaimin Gladiators' 29-11 kill lead in the closeout game.

Team Liquid 2-1 Quest Esports

The day ended with Liquid outlasting Quest, 2-1, in the lower bracket semifinals to end their Cinderall run in Bali and deny them the possibility of earning a direct invite to TI 2023.

Liquid struck first in a 56-minute game one, going blow for blow with Quest through the early and midgame before outplaying them by the late game.

Quest came back with a vengeance in game two, perfectly countering Liquid's Medusa pick with Anti-Mage for TA2000 and Primal Beast for Tony "No!ob" Assaf. The duo combined for 20 kills, while only having one death apiece, to tie the series up after 43 minutes of action.

Game three saw Quest look dominant early on thanks to a standout performance by ATF on Broodmother. However, Liquid managed to slow down their opponent's aggression with relentless split-pushing from zai's Lycan. That then allowed miCKe's Morphling and Nisha's Ember Spirit to outmaneuver Quest in the late game clashes, eventually handing Liquid the 2-1 series victory after a hard-fought 47 minutes.

With today's results, Gaimin Gladiators have guaranteed themselves at least a second place finish as well as US$100,000 and 550 DPC points in winnings. Of course, they have their eyes set on becoming the first-ever team to win three-straight Majors in the history of Dota 2. There's also the grand prize of US$200,000 and 600 DPC points.

Team Liquid are also guaranteed at least a third place finish and US$75,000 and 500 DPC points in winnings. They have their eyes set on forcing a third-straight Major Grand Finals showdown with Gaimin Gladiators and be the ones emerging victorious this time around.

Meanwhile, Quest Esports bow out of the Bali Major in fourth place and with US$50,000 and 450 DPC points in consolation. While they fall short of the championship and a direct invite to TI 2023, it is still a commendable result for a team competing in their first Major.

Finally, PSG.LGD and 9Pandas exit the tournament in 5th-6th place and with US$25,000 and 400 DPC points for their efforts.

The Bali Major Playoffs will take place from 5 to 10 July and will follow a double-elimination format. All Playoff matches will be a best-of-three except for the Grand Finals, which will be a full best-of-five series.

While the competing teams in Bali are fighting for their cut of the US$500,000 prize pool, they have their eyes set on a share of the 3,500 DPC point pool.

Those DPC points will go towards securing all-important direct invites to The International (TI) 2023, this year's iteration of Dota 2's annual multi-million dollar world championship tournament that will be held in Seattle this October.

For everything you need to know about the Bali Major, check here.

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