Dota 2 BetBoom Dacha Dubai: Azure Ray, Team Liquid upset Team Spirit, Gaimin Gladiators to advance to Top 4

Day four of the Dota 2 BetBoom Dacha Dubai 2024 Playoffs produced some very dramatic results as China's Azure Ray and Western Europe's Team Liquid advanced to the Top 4 with massive upsets over Team Spirit and Gaimin Gladiators in the lower bracket quarterfinals.

As the grand finalists of The International (TI) 2023, reigning champions Spirit and runners-up Gaimin Gladiators were the two biggest favourites to claim the championship at BetBoom Dacha Dubai but they found themselves in the lower bracket much earlier than expected.

Gaimin Gladiators knocked Spirit down to the lower bracket in the upper bracket quarterfinals before they themselves got knocked down by BetBoom Team in the upper bracket semifinals. Now their campaigns have ended in a disappointing 5th-6th finish at the hands of Azure Ray and Liquid.

Here's how all the matches in day four of the BetBoom Dacha Dubai 2024 Playoffs went down:

Team Liquid 2-1 Gaimin Gladiators

After getting dominated by Gaimin Gladiators for all of last year, Liquid have finally exorcised their demons by knocking them out of BetBoom Dacha Dubai in a 2-1 slugfest. While it won't make up for losing three-straight Major grand finals and the TI 2023 lower bracket quarterfinals to Gaimin Gladiators, the long-awaited taste of vengeance must still be very sweet for Liquid.

Liquid were firing on all cylinders to start the series, as they dominated Gaimin Gladiators in a 26-minute game one rout behind excellent performances from Michael "miCKe" Vu on a carry Marci and Michał "Nisha" Jankowski on a mid Sniper.

MiCKe and Nisha had five kills apiece and a combined 20 assists against one death for miCKe to pace Liquid's 19-7 kill lead in game one.

Gaimin Gladiators were quick to tie things up in game two as Quinn "Quinn" Callahan on Queen of Pain and Marcus "Ace" Hoelgaard led them to a 41-minute drubbing over Liquid. Both Quinn and Ace had 12 kills along with a combined 26 assists out of their team's 38-24 kill lead against three deaths for Quinn and five for Ace.

Game three then saw miCKe put on a masterclass carry Windranger performance to finally give Liquid a series victory over Gaimin Gladiators after a 50-minute rout. MiCKe had a stellar 20-kill, 11-assist line on two deaths to fuel Liquid's 37-20 kill lead to knock their rivals out of BetBoom Dacha Dubai.

Azure Ray 2-0 Team Spirit

Azure Ray bounced back from their upper bracket loss to Team Falcons with a massive upset over reigning TI champions Spirit, who coming off a 2-0 victory over another Chinese team in LGD Gaming in the first round of the lower bracket.

Azure Ray started the series with a statement 53-minute win in game one behind excellent performances from its core trio of Lou "Lou" Zhen on Troll Warlord, Zeng "Ori" Jiaoyang on Storm Spirit, and Zhang "Faith_bian" Ruida on Timbersaw.

Ori paced Azure Ray's 33-26 kill lead with 11 kills and 18 assists on three deaths, Faith_bian added 10 kills and 17 assists on two deaths, while Lou pitched in with a clean seven kills and 16 assists.

Lou had Troll Warlord once again in game two and led Azure Ray to securing the 2-0 sweep in a 46-minute rout, racking up 10 kills and 10 assists against two deaths out of his team's 31-16 kill lead. Ori on Templar Assassin and Faith_bian on Brewmaster also had five kills and one death apiece while combining for 37 assists while Xu "fy" Linsen on Rubick had six kills and 14 assists on five deaths.

With the day's results, Team Liquid and Azure Ray have guaranteed themselves at least a fourth place finish and US$60,000 in winnings. The two teams will then face off in the lower bracket semifinals to determine which team will join Team Falcons and BetBoom Team in the Top 3.

Meanwhile, Team Spirit and Gaimin Gladiators bow out of the tournament in 5th-6th place and with US$45,000 in consolation.

The penultimate day of the BetBoom Dacha Dubai Playoffs will open with the upper bracket finals between Team Falcons and BetBoom Team. Team Liquid and Azure Ray will then meet in the lower bracket semifinals, with the winner advancing to the lower bracket finals to face the loser of the upper bracket finals.

With the dissolution of the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) last year, the 2024 Dota 2 esports season will see a return to third-party tournaments being the main form of competition across the title.

BetBoom Dacha Dubai 2024 will kick off the 2024 season from 4 to 16 February in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates and will feature 12 of the best Dota 2 teams from across the world fight for the lion's share of a US$1 million prize pool.

For everything you need to know about BetBoom Dacha Dubai 2024, check here.

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