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Most of the ESL Kuala Lumpur Playoffs results are here. Only two finals remain. What has happened so far in the Playoffs of the last Dota 2 tournament of the year?  

Lower Bracket Quarterfinals and Semifinal

  ESL Kuala Lumpur kicked off with some very unexpected results. With TI winner absent, the favoritism fell back on the kings of the remainder of the year: Gaimin Gladiators and Team Liquid. After their top three finish at TI, LGD Gaming were also favorites here. As we now know, though, expectations really weren't met in the Group Stage. LGD were eliminated, Gaimin Gladiators were topped by Azure Ray and Team Liquid were relegated to the Lower Bracket. But, in the more recent days, history has just been repeating itself.  

Image via Liquipedia

Team Liquid have now tore through the entire Lower Bracket of the tournament, slowly but surely getting back to a similar form to the one they showed for most of the year. They swept Team Secret, convincingly defeated an in-form Team Falcons and dismantled TI's 5th to 6th in BetBoom Team. Is the Western Europe powerhouse back?  

ESL Kuala Lumpur Upper Bracket Final and what's to come

  In the upper bracket, the same story unfolded, just with the other protagonist. Gaimin Gladiators, the dominators of Majors left their post-TI woes behind them and seem ready for their seventh Tier 1 tournament victory of the year. They swept Azure Ray in two lightning quick games that actually felt like a return to form, destroying any doubts left by their performances in the Group Stage.  

Image via Liquipedia

Tomorrow the ESL Kuala Lumpur Playoffs come to an end. Will history repeat itself with Team Liquid and Gaimin Gladiators meeting in the Grand Final, or can Azure Ray have their own say in the last Dota 2 tournament of 2023?

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