Azure Ray was officially crowned as champions at ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023 powered by Intel on 17 December 2023, happening at Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre (MITEC).
Azure Ray made an impressive comeback story from a 0-2 deficit to 3:2 reverse sweep victory for an adrenaline-packed weekend of high-level Dota 2. The event has recorded over 18,000 fans attended the playoffs over three days to soak in the atmosphere of the first arena-scale Dota 2 LAN tournament after The International 2023, and the second tournament in the ESL Pro Tour (EPT) Season 2.
Azure Ray outmanoeuvred 11 of the world’s best teams, including runners-up Gaimin Gladiators in a fiercely contested grand finals. Their team chemistry, teamwork and experience helped them walk home with the grand prize of US$300,000 (RM1,410,000) from the US$1,000,000 (RM4,700,000) prize pool.
The victory also netted them 4,800 EPT points out of 19,980 available. These valuable points help determine which teams place high enough on the Leaderboard to receive a direct invite to the showdown competition, DreamLeague Season 22.
For their valiant effort, Gaimin Gladiators took home US$175,000 (RM822.500) and 3,600 EPT points. Third place went to Team Liquid, who received US$120,000 (RM564,000) and 3,000 EPT points.
“It’s been an exhilarating journey bringing ESL One powered by Intel back to Malaysia, and for the first time, Kuala Lumpur. MITEC was truly buzzing, with the arena alive as thousands of passionate fans soaked up a sensational weekend of Dota 2 action, culminating in a Grand Final showdown for the ages,” said Shane Clarke, Director of Game Ecosystems for Dota 2 at ESL FACEIT Group.
“Congratulations to Azure Ray on a well-deserved victory, and thank you to all our fans, partners, and staff, who helped make ESL One Kuala Lumpur powered by Intel 2023 a success,” said Caitlin Kang, Senior Director Business Operations APJ, Managing Director of ESL Malaysia at ESL FACEIT Group.
ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023 saw a peak viewership of over 335,000* concurrent viewers, and over 8 million hours watched over the six days of competition.
Final Standings:
Placing; Team; Prize Money; EPT Points
1st Azure Ray; US$300,000; 4,800
2nd Gaimin Gladiators; US$175,000; 3,600
3rd Team Liquid; US$120,000; 3,000
4th BetBoom Team; US$85,000; 2,400
5th – 6th G2.IG, Team Falcons; US$57,500; 1,680
7th – 8th Tundra, Team Secret; US$47,500; 780
9th – 10th LGD Gaming, Blacklist International; US$30,000; 420
11th – 12th 9Pandas, Wawitas Sagazes; US$25,000; 210
*According to escharts.com; English language only
Photo Credit: ESL FACEITGroup/Adam Lakomy