Gaimin Gladiators' Ace wants to win everything in Dota 2, just like Astralis did in CS:GO
Astralis are widely considered to be the greatest team in the history of CS:GO. Gaimin Gladiators have the chance to be that for Dota 2 if they win TI 2023.
Western European Dota 2 juggernauts Gaimin Gladiators have the opportunity to do something no one has ever done in the history of the game's esports scene — complete a 'perfect' season where they win all the Majors and The International (TI), Dota 2's annual world championship tournament.
For Gaimin Gladiators offlaner Marcus "Ace" Hoelgaard, accomplishing such a feat would let them become for Dota 2 what legendary Danish squad Astralis was for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO): the team that won everything.
"I remember talking with [Aske "Cy-" Larsen], our coach, I told him 'I think we can win everything and I want to win everything' just like Astralis did in CS:GO. Our goal was to win everything, and Astralis was the like the idol team for us," Ace said in an exclusive interview with Yahoo Esports SEA.
Astralis is widely considered the greatest team in the history of CS:GO and one of the greatest in the history of esports. The Danish squad won four Majors — the biggest tournaments in CS:GO — including three-straight, feats no other team have been able to match.
Even now, Gaimin Gladiators can be considered to be in the same tier as Astralis in terms of their accomplishments in Dota 2.
While Gaimin Gladiators may not have won the most Majors in Dota 2 — the biggest tournaments outside of TI — they do hold the distinction of being the only ones to win all three Majors in a season, having won the Lima, Berlin, and Bali Majors for the final Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) season.
And if they can finish the year by hoisting the Aegis of Champions at TI 2023 later this month, then there can be no more arguments: Gaimin Gladiators will have won everything in Dota 2 just like Astralis did in CS:GO.
Building the perfect season
While Gaimin Gladiators' dominance has been clear enough for all to see now, not many expected them to be in this position at the start of the 2023 DPC season.
After a ho-hum 9th-12th place finish at TI 2022 last year, Gaimin Gladiators retooled by acquiring American star midlaner Quinn "Quinn" Callahan to replace Miroslav "BOOM" Bičan.
According to Ace, adding "an extremely skilled mid player" like Quinn to the team was what they needed to get over the hump. The sky was pretty much the limit for the team from there.
The season has been pretty good so far, we won almost all the tournaments. I wouldn't say it was like the 'surprising' kind of surprise, more so it was very positive that we did it. We did believe in the team, the core of the team we had at that time.Ace
"I think the only thing that was missing was basically that we get an extremely skilled mid player that also played with us the same way."
But more than just pure skill, Gaimin Gladiators have proven themselves a cut above the rest of the competition with their deep understanding of the game and airtight teamwork.
"Everybody on our team is very skilled and also very smart. I think from the first Major, we also had some very good playstyles and ideas going on, which put us ahead of other teams," said Ace.
"We talk a lot and strategise together, and we know a lot of the things that we needed and wanted to do. We're very efficient in the game, which a lot of teams didn't do or couldn't understand."
More than that, the team can boast chemistry only a few others could match.
Ace, carry player Anton "dyrachyo" Shkredov, as well as the support duo of Erik "tOfu" Engel and Melchior "Seleri" Hillenkamp have been playing together since November 2021, when they began as the stack known as 'Team Tickles'.
In a scene where unsuccessful teams rarely stick together for longer than a year, that kind of roster continuity can pay dividends — something that the Gaimin Gladiators organisation banked on when they signed the squad in February 2022 and now see the bountiful fruits of.
"We don't really have any big attitudes or toxic personalities. Outside of the game, we always have a good time. Generally, we just have a very good time together and everybody just enjoys being together," said Ace.
Though if Ace had to pick out just one thing his team does better than anyone else, it would be, surprisingly enough: tryharding.
Funnily enough, it has become quite the signature playstyle for Gaimin Gladiators. Even after losing hard in the early game, you can bet the team will just spread out across the map and get as much farm as possible before finding that one teamfight that would spark a comeback and an eventual victory.
"Everyone is very committed, tryhard, and loves Dota. Our team likes to tryhard, it's fun, we have a lot of fun with that, so that's what we're gonna do. We're just gonna take it one game at a time, do our best, and we'll see the results. If we don't win or go far, then that just means we're not good enough," said Ace.
Making, and breaking, history
It is said that the greatest teams in any sport always face two opponents; the first being whichever team they are matched against and the second being history itself.
The same can be said for esports, be it CS:GO, Dota 2, or any other title.
No one thought Astralis would win three-straight CS:GO Majors, let alone a record-breaking fourth, until they did.
No one thought Gaimin Gladiators would win the Lima Major, until they did. No one thought they could do it a second time at Berlin, until they did. No one has ever won all three Dota 2 Majors in a season, until Gaimin Gladiators did in Bali.
Only one more trend in Dota 2's history remains for Gaimin Gladiators to break: no team that won a Major has ever won TI before.
According to Ace, such superstitions are just stats to the team, nothing more. From the start of their run up to now, the only thing that decided their results was their own play. It will remain that way in TI 2023.
"It's an interesting stat, we've definitely heard about it and a lot of people mentioned it to us. We also joke about it, but we're not gonna scared by anything like that. We're not gonna let anything outside of the games affect us," said Ace.
"We definitely just treat it as any tournament, we don't want to overhype anything or make it like it's a life-or-death situation, you know? We just do what we usually we do: we have some fun, play Dota, and we tryhard."
Gaimin Gladiators is one of the 20 teams competing for the Aegis of Champions in TI 2023 from 12 to 29 October in Seattle, the United States. This year's tournament also features a revamped format split into two distinct phases, called 'The Road to The International' and 'The International' itself.
For everything you need to know about TI 2023, check here.
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