In an earlier interview with Lachlan "Ares" Williams and Clinton “Fear” Loomis, Gaimin Gladiators’ (GG) Melchior "Seleri" Hillenkamp interestingly said that the group stage of DreamLeague Season 22 was probably the most difficult one it played so far.
On 29th February, Gamin Gladiators barely managed to qualify for the second phase of the group stage at the DreamLeague Season 22. In group table A, Gaimin Gladiators, OG, and Virtus.pro found themselves in a three-way tie with only two available spots. Therefore the three teams had to play through the tiebreakers to move on.
After facing a loss against OG during the tiebreaker and a win against Virtus.pro, the chances of GG making it to the second phase seemed slim. But OG’s victory over Virtus.pro sent Virtus.pro home, helping Gaimin Gladiators qualify for the second phase.
Seleri Expresses the Difficulty of DreamLeague Season 22 Group Stage
On 27th February, Gaimin Gladiators’ position five support sat down for an interview with Dota 2 caster Ares and Dota 2 veteran Fear. During the interview, Fear noted how Gaimin Gladiators has been struggling in the group stage despite being one of the stronger teams.
Seleri responded, “Yes, I think we're getting there. It was a tough group stage for us, but it's not the first time something like this has happened to us. Perhaps, it was the toughest group in our history. Maybe it's time for us to start winning.”
However, Seleri made it clear that the team was actively working on improving and playing better in the upcoming games.
He added, “We just want to make sure that we are solely focused on our game, not on the results. Otherwise, you catch yourself thinking, 'Oh, we won practically everywhere last year, and got second a few times. If we don't repeat that, then we'll embarrass ourselves.' It's unnecessary stress, so we need to focus only on the game, match by match. And don't forget to enjoy it.”
Gaimin’s journey so far has been rocky but it is a team filled with potential and has proven itself as a formidable team. We might see Gaimin Gladiators shine through in the second group stage and make it to the playoffs.
Interestingly, this DreamLeague has certainly been full of surprises. Dota 2 powerhouse Team Spirit, which was playing in the group table B, also struggled during the group stage and barely managed to qualify for the second phase. Team Spirit’s Illya "Yatoro" Mulyarchuk had traced the root of the problems down to bad gameplay and drafting which he assured the team was actively working to improve.