LGD Dominates Azure Ray at The International 2023
At The International 2023, Azure Ray was taught a lesson in Dota 2 by the new kids on the block, LGD. LGD secured a top-three spot with a convincing 2-0 victory over their regional rivals.
LGD executed their game plan flawlessly against Azure Ray. Their position one carry, shiro, was unstoppable and dominated both games with a combined record of 27-8-28 on Muerta and Spectre. Although the matches lasted over 40 minutes, LGD had secured victory by minute 20. LGD offlaner niu revealed that they were prepared for AR’s Weaver option.
“I feel Weaver is a strong hero, but you have to draft around it,” stated niu in his post-game interview. “You can’t simply pick it and expect to win.”
Lou, from Azure Ray, struggled to make the Weaver work in his favor in both games and only recorded four kills throughout the series. Niu recognizes that winning on the TI main stage requires more than individual performance.
“I think my team is amazing, they’re really good,” he said, expressing his confidence in the squad. To advance further, they’ll need to be at their best as their next opponent is the Russian squad, Team Spirit, who are coming off a solid win against Team Liquid.
“Yeah, I watched [Team Spirit] at TI10, and I will try my best,” said niu. “They were underdogs at TI10, but we’ll give it our best shot.”
In the upper bracket final against Spirit, LGD will face the underdog tag, but if they continue to perform like they did against Azure Ray, they will be difficult to defeat. Both matches showcased LGD’s resilience, as they had to come back from mediocre laning phases.
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In both games against LGD, Azure Ray failed to capitalize on their early leads. LGD’s late-game team compositions made it essential for AR to secure victory before 25 to 30 minutes. However, LGD shut down any opportunities and outplayed their opponents in every role.
Team Spirit will pose a greater challenge for the young Chinese squad, while the veterans will need to overcome Spirit’s regional partners, BetBoom, to avoid elimination from TI 2023 altogether.
Dota 2, esports, LGD, Azure Ray, The International 2023, team Spirit, BetBoom, Weaver, victory, defeat