DOTA 2 Riyadh Masters 2022: PSG.LGD lifts trophy with a dominant 2-0 win over Team Spirit

After five days of intense and exhilarating DOTA 2 gameplay, PSG.LGD clinched the Riyadh Masters trophy after an extremely dominant performance against the reigning TI (The International) champions, Team Spirit, on July 24. The Best-of-three Grand Finals ended in little over an hour and showcased the Chinese team outclassing their opponent on all fronts.

Riyadh Masters 2022 is a third-party LAN DOTA 2 tournament hosted by Gamers8GG. The event boasted a massive prize pool of US$4 million and PSG.LGD took the biggest piece of that pie. This was also the first international LAN since TI 10 that saw the Chinese teams participating.

PSG.LGD's win comes with the Arlington Major, the next major of the 2021/2022 DOTA Pro Circuit (DPC) season, just around the corner. The DOTA 2 team will be looking to continue their dominant form.

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PSG.LGD the first DOTA 2 Riyadh Masters champions

PSG.LGD stepped up their game in the Masters with one strong performance after the other. They had properly strategized to counter and beat the reigning TI champions and managed to do so in a completely dominant fashion. Special mention goes to the Alchemist pick in Game 2 and Ame's exceptional performance with the hero.

PSG.LGD were second in the Group Stage in Group B and won both their Quarterfinals and Semi-finals matches with a score of 2-1 over Nigma Galaxy and OG, respectively. Team Spirit had a disappointing showing in ESL One Stockholm 2022, the earlier DPC Major of the season.

At the Riyadh Masters, they did a much better job and even eliminated Team Secret in the Semi-finals on the way to their meeting with PSG.LGD in the Grand Finals. Both games saw Ame endure difficult starts during the laning phase, but he ended with the top net worth as expected from Lone Druid and Alchemist.

The first game saw a control see-saw as both teams got one kill after another. Faith_bian, playing as Brewmaster, was instrumental in PSG.LGD's Game 1 win, with nine kills and 12 assists. He also offered a similar showing as Nature Prophet, with six kills and 13 assists, in Game 2.

The second game also saw a similar start, with both teams having an equal number of kills and an oscillating gold advantage. This changed around the 15-minute mark when PSG.LGD wiped out four members of Team Spirit in a mid-lane clash, with Alchemist securing a triple kill moments after picking up his radiance.

Team Spirit's fortunes went downhill from thereon. Alchemist hit his critical timings, and his net worth expectedly skyrocketed. Similar to Game 1, PSG.LGD secured mega creeps and quickly ended it within the 30-minute mark.

For Team Spirit, Yatoro had a less-than-stellar time in both games, picking Luna and Sven but never really getting to significantly affect the skirmishes. Mira had an especially miserable time as Marci, managing 20 deaths in total in the series.

After-match analysts at DOTA 2 Riyadh Masters noted that PSG.LGD looked like the best team in the tournament, especially due to their composure, synergy, and the number of tactics they had up their sleeves to outfox their opponents. This was the only 2-0 result in all the playoffs at the Masters.

PSG.LGD's win nets them $1.5 million of the prize pool as champions, while Team Spirit is awarded $750,00 for securing the runners-up spot. Chinese fans will be excited to see how the team fares in the final DPC Major before TI, with a number of points up for grabs; it will be held in Arlington next month from August 4 to August 14.