Team Liquid crowned as The International 2024 champions with sweep over rivals Gaimin Gladiators

Image: Valve Software

After falling to Gaimin Gladiators in five previous grand finals, Team Liquid defeated their rivals in the one that mattered the most.

Team Liquid have been crowned as this year’s Dota 2 world champions after they triumphed over rivals Gaimin Gladiators, 3-0, in an all-Western Europe showdown in The International 2024 (TI 2024) grand finals at the Royal Arena of Copenhagen, Denmark on Sunday (September 15).

This was the most dominant performance by a TI champion ever, as Liquid won every single game they played in the Playoffs and their only losses came during the preliminary Group Stage and Seeding Decider phases. This also marks the third-straight year that the TI grand finals ended in a 3-0 sweep.

With their victory, Liquid claimed the grand prize of $1.15 million out of the tournament’s $2.56 million prize pool as well as the organisation's second Aegis of Champions to add to their first from TI 2017.

Liquid offlaner Neta “33” Shapira also becomes the tenth member of Dota 2’s illustrious club of two-time TI champions, having won his first with Tundra Esports in TI 2022. Not only that, he has now formed his own exclusive club as the first-ever player to become a TI champion with two different teams.

Liquid mid laner Michał “Nisha” Jankowski has also finally claimed the Aegis after four previous attempts and coming close with his second place finish in TI 2022 with Team Secret. Carry player Michael “miCKe” Vu, position 4 support Samuel “Boxi” Svahn, and position 5 support Aydin “Insania” Sarkohi also captured the trophy after three past tries.

Meanwhile, Gaimin Gladiators bow out of TI 2024 in a commendable second place finish and will take home over $350,000 for their efforts. The Aegis continues to elude them as they have now fallen short of the top step for the second-straight year following their loss to Team Spirit in the grand finals of TI 2023.

Liquid's journey to becoming TI 2024 champions

Both Liquid and Gladiators earned direct invites to TI 2024 after strong performances all throughout the year. While not many saw both squads among the biggest contenders for this year's Aegis of Champions, the storied rivals showcased incredible growth over the course of the tournament in order to eventually meet in the championship match.

Liquid and Gladiators started the TI 2024 Group Stage in Groups D and B, respectively, but had wildly different starts to the tournament. Liquid finished as the second seed of Group D with a 4-2 record, with their only losses coming to defending champions Spirit. Meanwhile, Gladiators only managed a 3-3 record, though it was still enough to give them the second seed of Group B.

Both teams then earned upper bracket berths in the Playoffs by emerging victorious in the Seeding Decider, with Liquid defeating BetBoom Team and Gladiators bouncing back by taking down G2.iG.

In the Playoffs, Liquid cruised through Xtreme Gaming and Cloud9 in back-to-back sweeps to advance to the upper bracket finals. On the other side of the bracket, Gladiators defeated nouns and swept Tundra Esports in order to face their longtime rivals once again for the first spot in the grand finals.

While Gladiators trounced their rivals in almost every matchup they've had in the past couple of years, things looked very different this time around. Liquid shocked the world as they soundly swept Gladiators and became the first team in the grand finals, knocking their rivals down to the lower bracket finals.

If Gladiators hoped to reach their second-straight TI finals, they first had to face a surging Tundra Esports who were coming off a sweep over tournament favourites Team Falcons in the lower bracket semifinals. In the first match of TI 2024's Finals Weekend to be settled after the full three games, Gladiators overcame Tundra after a 69-minute game three thriller to earn a rematch with Liquid for the Aegis of Champions.

Team LiquidvsGaimin Gladiators

Gladiators opened the grand finals with their classic aura-centric draft with Anton “dyrachyo” Shkredov on Chaos Knight, Marcus “Ace” Hoelgaard on Underlord, and Melchior “Seleri” Hillenkamp on Chen but with the added twist of Quinn “Quinn” Callahan on a surprise mid Riki.

Quinn's Riki worked wonders in the early game, drawing first blood on Nisha's Puck and dominating him in the laning stage. Gladiators' mid laner then led his team in winning the first engagements of the game, notably locking down Nisha with Smoke Screen in an attempt to further slow down the opposing Puck's progression.

However, Liquid turned the tables around the 18-minute mark once they were able to properly set up for teamfights. Boxi's Tusk and Insania's Shadow Demon provided saves for whoever Gladiators initiated on, freeing Nisha up to wreak havoc. All the while, miCKe on Nature's Prophet and 33 on Visage dished out overwhelming damage from long range and demolished towers once the fight was over.

With momentum on their side, Liquid put the Aegis of the Immortal on miCKe started sieging Gladiators' base with their pair of strong pushing heroes. Down two lanes of barracks, Gladiators attempted to chase Liquid as they retreated in the hopes of mounting a comeback. While they managed to score kills on 33 and miCKe, the Nature's Prophet simply bought back and helped win one last teamfight for Liquid that forced the GG call after 29 minutes of action.

Game two saw Liquid give Gladiators a taste of their own medicine as they drafted a high-tempo lineup led by miCKe on Nature's Prophet again, Nisha on Nature's Prophet, and 33 on Bristleback while Boxi and Insania reprised their saving heroes from game one.

With Quinn picking up Puck this time around, Nisha got revenge for his miserable game one laning stage by helping hand him three crippling deaths in the first 16 minutes of the game. With 33 freely farming all throughout the early game, his Bristleback turned into a nigh-unstoppable beast that led Liquid in taking down Gladiators' bottom set of barracks by the 22-minute mark.

Gladiators were able to repel another Liquid push on their top set of barracks to slow things down and earn some breathing room, though any attempts by them to venture out into the map were quickly punished. Seeking to mount a comeback, dyrachyo on Dragon Knight went all-in on damage with Sange and Yasha, Silver Edge, Daedalus, and Aghanim's Scepter that helped them win a fight in the river at the 40-minute mark.

But when things hung in the balance in the game's decisive clash around the bottom Roshan Pit around the 42-minute mark, Liquid's multiple saves proved decisive as they outlasted Gladiators' damage output and took a commanding 2-0 series lead a couple minutes later.

With the Aegis within their reach, Liquid went back to their high-tempo strategy from game one with miCKe on Nature's Propher for the third-straight game, Nisha on Puck, and 33 on Visage. The team's support duo also traded their saving heroes for more teamfight controllers with Boxi on Dark Willow and Insania on Clockwerk.

Things looked good for Gladiators early on, but Liquid blew the game wide open with four kills in a river clash at the 12-minute mark. They then continued rolling by dominating another clash by Gladiators' bottom tier two tower, where Nisha landed an incredible three-man Dream Coil that led to four more kills.

Liquid looked to push their advantage by stealing the opposing Tormentor at the 22-minute mark, only for Gladiators to strike back behind Quinn's Pangolier and trade three kills for one buyback on Seleri's Marci. Gladiators further proved they wouldn't go down without a fight as they continued to match Liquid in the ensuing teamfights across the Radiant top and mid lanes.

Despite Gladiators' best efforts to claw their way back into the game, Liquid simply could not be denied as they forced the final GG call after 34 minutes of action to secure the 3-0 sweep and the TI 2024 championship.

TI 2024 was this year's iteration of Dota 2's annual world championship tournament that featured 16 of the best teams in the world fighting for their cut of the $2.54 million prize pool and the Aegis of Champions.

The event was hosted from September 4 to 15 in Copenhagen, Denmark and was split into three distinct phases: the Group stage (September 4 to 5) and the Seeding Deciders (September 6 to 7) and the Playoffs (September 8 to 10 and September 13 to 15). The Group Stage, the Seeding Decider, and the first two rounds of the Playoffs were branded as part of The Road to The International, while the Finals Weekend featuring the Top 8 teams were branded as The International itself.