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The Riyadh Masters 2023, the biggest commercial event of the year, has a group stage. Of the 20 teams in the race for $15,000,000, 16 teams remain.
Day three of the group stage clashes are on the screens. We're talking about Group A and the clash between Xtreme Gaming and Gaimin Gladiators.
Teams will hold their face-to-face confrontation in the first cycle of matches on match day 3. As before, we are in for a mind-blowing and not at all stuffy Bo2!
Let's try to figure out how the next episode of West vs East will end. At the same time, let's try to find a team that can do something about the Gaimin Gladiators. Who knows, maybe it'll be Xtreme Gaming.
Let's go!
Gaimin Gladiators uniforms
Let's open the match analysis with an analysis of the Gaimin Gladiators' form. In this match, they will play in the status of favourites.
This has become axiomatic in 2023. Gaimin Gladiators are ultimatelly good and at every tournament in the year, they are ready to shut down their visions, whoever they are.
At DPC 2023 Tour 1 WEU Division 1, the team took the top 2 at DPC 2023, which opened the way for them to The Lima Major 2023. The first Major season of the tournament was a trailblazing triumph for the Gladiators. Gaimin Gladiators won the tournament without losing a single map in the championship play-offs.
The next DPC cycle in the home league ended even worse than the previous one. Then GG lost to tiebreaker for the top 2, but more than compensated for the failure with a performance on the international stage. Even twice.
On the eve of Long Copega DPC 2023: Tour 3, GG took the championship in two international arenas. They won the $1,000,000 DreamLeague S19 and The Berlin Major 2023, defending their status.
In the third round of the domestic league, Gaimin Gladiators were expectedly one of the top contenders to win the league, but failed to get the regional championship. At the end of DPC 2023: WEU Tour 3 GG took 2nd place, but they made it to the Major, and that's the main thing.
- Gaimin Gladiators lineup: dyrachyo, Quinn, Ace, tOfu, Seleri .
There was also DreamLeague Season 20, where in the first group stage GG felt like they played half-heartedly. Nevertheless, they made it to the next stage and then won the grand final.
The last tournament before the Riyadh Masters 2023 was The Bali Major 2023. The third Major tournament ended with another triumph for Gaimin Gladiators. In the grand finals, Liquid were once again run over.
GG started the group stage of Riyadh Masters 2023 in their own style, without much haste and measured. The three-time Major champions earned 2 draws, sharing points with Team Spirit and PSG.LGD.
Most popular Gaimin Gladiators heroes
The most frequent pick was Rubick. The character has appeared in the GG peak 8 times and has an 87% win rate.
Next came Pangolier (6 matches, 83% wins), Doom (6 matches, 66% wins), Keeper of the Light (5 matches, 80% wins), Ember Spirit (5 matches, 80% wins).
We also took Ember Spirit (4 matches, 100% wins), Terrorblade (4 matches, 75% wins).
Xtreme Gaming uniforms
We continue the match analysis with the analysis of Xtreme Gaming's form. In this match the Chinese will play as the number two.
You should not be surprised by the state of affairs. Xtreme Gaming not only can't match up with GG, they look raw almost everywhere they play.
At DPC 2023: China Upper Division, Xtreme Gaming finished in the top 5. For a team with such a roster, that result was not just unacceptable, but rather terrible.
The deplorable state of Xtreme Gaming became even more evident after The Lima Major 2023, where Paparazzi and company did not qualify. At the tournament in Peru, only Aster and PSG.LGD showed some promise, while Knights and Ehome, who Xtreme Ledge played in their home league, were suspected of using cheats and ceased to exist after Lima.
However, Xtreme managed to pull itself together. The team called up the experienced Kaka for the fourth position and started to play. Xtreme won their home league with this squad. In this lineup they travelled to Berlin, where they made it to the group stage of The Berlin Major 2023. However, they finished in the top 12, which is not very good.
The third round was a nightmare for Xtreme. They finished in the top 5, which is not a critical indicator, but for teams of Paparazzi and company level, not making it to the Major with not the strongest competition is a failure.
- Xtreme Gaming roster: Ghost, Paparazzi, JT, XinQ, Dy.
Riyadh Masters 2023 could be a qualitative leap for Xtreme. At least they are showing a game, something that hasn't been seen all year before.
Xtreme made it to the Play-In and took 2nd place in their basket. In the groups they also look good: after the first day they have two draws, with OG and Xtreme.
The most popular Xtreme Gaming heroes
The most popular hero of Xtreme Gaming is Storm Spirit. Paparazzi played it 5 times, but won only 2 matches.
We also took Alchemist (4 matches, 75% wins), Phoenix (4 matches, 50% wins), Keeper of the Light (4 matches, 25% wins), Rubick (4 matches, 25% wins).
There was also Pangolier, Underlord, Pugna, Dragon Knight. All heroes appeared 3 times and won 2 matches each.
Head-to-head history
The teams have not played each other in official matches before. This will be their debut.
Match outcome
I would like to believe in Xtreme in this match, but it seems they are not destined to win. Even one map would be enough, but that's also unlikely.
Gladiators like to accelerate during the tournament and I'm sure they will show their best in the match against Xtreme. Still, the group stage is coming to an end and we don't want to lose points on the spot.
Bottom line: Gladiators win.
