The Gaimin Gladiators have been swept in an overwhelming stomp by Tundra Esports at the Grand Finals of BLAST Slam 2.
With a clean 3-0 victory, and a victory earlier in the year at FISSURE PLAYGROUND, Tundra Esports is looking like the strongest Dota 2 team in 2025.
Tundra Esports wins BLAST Slam Dota 2 (Image credit: BLAST Slam)
BLAST Slam 2 Recap
BLAST Slam 2 gathered the world’s best teams for the weekend, featuring Team Falcons, PARIVISION, BetBoom Team, Team Liquid and more.
However, what truly surprised us was the unexpected performances of Nigma Galaxy and Gaimin Gladiators to earn runner-up spots against these major players. Firstly, Nigma Galaxy did phenomenally for a team that barely had anyone’s expectations. They would have to give credit where it’s due, particularly Daniel “Ghost” Chan, who stood-in for Amer “Miracle-” Al-Barkawi’s absence. The young prodigy showcased a versatile hero pool, giving Nigma the wow-factor they needed to spice their drafts up. Tundra eventually defeated Nigma, but it was a relatively close series, considering how Tundra took note of Ghost’s signature Morphling pick.
Gaimin’s road to grand finals
Meanwhile, Gaimin also delivered some phenomenal performances to make it into the grand finals of BLAST Slam 2. Despite the recent backlash on their drama with former teammate, Anton “dyrachyo” Shkredov, their games today showed that they weren’t all that bad and might just be second only to Tundra Esports.
Before heading into the grand finals, Gaimin defeated Team Falcons, a fan favorite at the BLAST Slam 2. With the typical consistency from Gaimin’s stack on top of Alimzhan “watson” Islambekov’s improvement, Gaimin isn’t too shabby compared to the other Dota 2 powerhouses.
Recap on BLAST Slam 2 Grand Finals
Nevertheless, Tundra still put Gaimin’s efforts to shame when it boils down to it thanks to sheer execution and performance. The first two games of the grand final series kicked off with Gaimin looking like they had a close chance of giving Tundra a run for their money. The laning phase was well-executed, and went in favor of Gaimin.
However, Tundra knew how to deal with such instances, notably when Neta “33” Shapira made rotations after realizing his offlane is unfavorable. These countermeasures to an early bad game, brought back both games’ pace to Tundra’s typical timing, which ultimately led them to victory.
Grand Finals score at BLAST Slam 2 (Image credit: BLAST Slam)
With a decisive Game 3 remaining, Gaimin fumbled the match, where every lane struggled. Even Quinn Callahan had a rougher time than his usual games, which put Gaimin in a difficult spot to ever pull off a comeback. Tundra is certainly not an opponent that would let such a clean game slip from their grasp, so it didn’t take long before the final game concluded.
Tundra proved that their past victory at FISSURE PLAYGROUND #1 was not a fluke.