Tundra Esports have defeated Aurora Gaming in the Grand Final of DreamLeague Season 28, securing a 3-1 victory after an incredible tournament run.
Raising the trophy after a thrilling 14-day event, Tundra fended off contention from Team Liquid in the Upper Bracket Finals, before defeating Aurora to secure their win. The win pushes Tundra back to the top of the Liquidpedia ranks, and locks them in as the best team in the world, albeit for a limited time
After finishing second in two group stages, Tundra Esports looked primed for a great performance heading into the finals. Their 2-0 demolition of Team Liquid, who just a few weeks before had been crowned winners of BLAST Slam VI, seemed to prove Tundra were ready for a big victory.
But Aurora’s similar defeat of Team Liquid suggested more of an even match-up. After all, this is a dangerous Aurora team that’s been building up its talent for months, and has been sitting on a similar level with other top teams in Dota 2.
When the two met in the Grand Finals, however, Tundra appeared to be the more decisive and active team. In part, once again, Tundra’s star offlaner, Neta “33” Shapira, facilitated by a playstyle that rewards timing and farm, was able to control their opponent’s carry. With picks like Beastmaster and Largo, crowd-control heavy initiators that bring fights to enemy teams, Tundra looked dominant.
While Aurora was able to take a game off Tundra, with carry Egor “Nightfall” Grigorenko popping off with some crucial Crono’s on Faceless Void. But this wasn’t enough to swing the series.
Tundra finished out the series with an exemplary display from midlaner Bozhidar “bzm” Bogdanov, proving exactly why pub players hate Tinker.
With the win, Tundra take home $250,000 in player prize, $40,000 in club reward, and crucially, 5010 EPT points which more or less guarantees a ticket to the Esports World Cup later this year.
What’s more, with early TI invites this year (June 9 is the first qualifiers, and it’s expected teams will receive direct invites before that), Tundra seem likely heading to TI15 in Shanghai as well.
Read Also: Team Liquid lift trophy at BLAST Slam VI
Featured Image Credit: ESL
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