Meet the GAIMIN Gladiators

The GAIMIN Gladiators are best known for their DOTA 2 team, which entered the competitive scene in early 2022 after acquiring the promising Team Tickles roster. Just days after the new team was formed, they went on to become the champions of the DOTA Pro Circuit Western European Union 2022 Regional bracket, edging out Team Liquid in the final. 

Since then, they’ve gone on to play in huge tournaments such as the DOTA 2 Champions League and The International, before going on to win the BetBoom Xmas Show, most recently dominating the DOTA Pro Circuit season, winning an unparalleled three back to back Majors – Lima, Berlin and in July 2023 Bali. The team is moving onto the Gamers8 Riyadh Masters and has qualified for TI12 in Seattle. While their debut year was fantastic for the team, just who exactly are the GAIMIN Gladiators?

A quick look at the GAIMIN Gladiators’ recent successes

DOTA 2

The GAIMIN Gladiators DOTA 2 team spent the first half of 2022 racking up points in the regional Dota Pro Circuit divisions, before qualifying for The International. Held in Singapore, the competition brought together the best teams and placed them head to head against each other. GG finished The International 2022 competition in a shared 9th-12th, which was an honourable position against some of the best DOTA 2 teams in the world.

They maintained their momentum with an impressive performance in the BetBoom Xmas Show. After being invited as Final Stage Seeds to the competition, they went on to amass two victories against Nemiga Gaming and one against Virtus.pro, before taking on Team Spirit in the finals. It ended with a three-two victory to GG, and they wrapped up 2022 with inspiring determination. 

2023 is becoming an exceptional year for the Team. At the end of 2022, they replaced Boom with Quinn and CY took over as coach from Immortal Faith. This new combination has cemented itself in the history books becoming the first team ever to win three back-to-back Majors – Lima, Berlin and Bali. In the middle, they won the DreamLeague tournament. Following Bali they are travelling to Riyadh for Gamers8 and then after a short break will travel to Seattle for The International.

This team is already being cited by commentators as “the best in the world”.

Rocket League

GAIMIN Gladiators also comprises a roster for Rocket League. Not quite in the dominance category as with DOTA2, however the Rocket League team also qualified in 2023 for the Gamers8 tournament in Riyadh and are a formidable force within this game.

Fortnite

At the time of publication, GAIMIN Gladiators only recently signed Kami, a top 3 Fortnite player. Immediately on signing, Kami was on a flight to Riyadh and within a few days of landing, Kami went on to win the Fortnite tournament for Gamers8. This was on the same day the DOTA 2 team won the Bali Major! 

A formidable weekend for GAIMIN Gladiators to say the least.

PUBG-Mobile

As a slight diversion from its strategy of focussing on PC-based games, the GAIMIN Gladiators roster was recently enhanced with a PUBG-Mobile team. 

Gaimin Gladiator’s focus on PC-based games is related to its parent company’s app monetising PC-based resources, making the players of these games the ideal target market. However, as GAIMIN is considering a focus on the mobile market, having a mobile game within its roster makes complete sense.

As is typical of GAIMIN Gladiators, the PUBG-Mobile team have also qualified for Gamers8 in Riyadh, providing GAIMIN Gladiators with their third participating team in the event! Again, an achievement not followed by many other organisations!

Who are the GAIMIN Gladiators?

The current DOTA 2 roster of the GAIMIN Gladiators is comprised of the following players:

• Anton ‘dyrachyo’ Shkredov
• Quinn ‘Quinn’ Callahan
• Marcus ‘Ace’ Hoelgaard
• Erik ‘tOfu’ Engel
• Melchior ‘Seleri’ Hillenkamp

However, the Gaimin Gladiators DOTA 2 team didn’t find their success without help – current Coach Aske ‘Cy-’ Larsen replaced Daniel ‘ImmortalFaith’ Moza towards the end of 2022, and they seem to have found their stride.

Their current captain is Seleri, who has played alongside his current teammates since Team Tickles’ inception in 2021. However, the team hasn’t always looked like this. Anyone familiar with their history remembers Miroslav ‘BOOM’ Bičan, who left GG for Team Secret in December last year. His departure was followed by the Gaimin Gladiators’ latest signing Quinn, who was instrumental in their victory at the BetBoom Xmas Show.

The GAIMIN Gladiators DOTA 2 team are perhaps most recognisable for their near unmatched team synergy. It’s this that sets the GG teams apart from the competition.

However, GAIMIN Gladiators doesn’t stop at DOTA 2, with their Rocket League, PUBG-Mobile, Fortnite and other teams racking up the wins too. In fact, there’s even talks of a new team in development. If you’re not familiar with The Harvest, you’d be forgiven as the game hasn’t fully released yet. It’s a third-person shooter / MOBA game that’s on track for Web 3 support, which – if you’re unaware – is an internet technology designed with blockchain compatibility in mind.

GAIMIN Gladiators have a new roster acquisition in the works for The Harvest, and while not much is known at the moment, it certainly looks promising.

Something is clearly working really well with the GAIMIN Gladiators esports model, so let’s take a look at the team’s origins.

Who are GAIMIN?

You may have heard the name GAIMIN before encountering their Esports teams, especially if you’re interested in crypto-currency.

GAIMIN are the parent company looking after the Gaimin Gladiators, and it’s clear they saw heaps of potential when they picked up the DOTA 2 team in 2022. It was a risky move at first but the team has clearly taken the GAIMIN name in their stride.

The company’s aim is to let gamers earn money while they game, which we’ve covered in an earlier feature. If you weren’t already exposed to the GAIMIN, their platform allows users to monetise their computer’s processing capabilities while gaming. It seems their esports teams are an arm of marketing spreading the GAIMIN name – and it appears to be working.

The platform allows users to join huge decentralised data processing networks by making use of hardware that’s already in use. GAIMIN generates monetising rewards for its users by submitting data processing jobs to devices within the GAIMIN network. When the data is processed, the outputs are returned back to GAIMIN who distribute the outputs back to the users. Currently, GAIMIN processes data for AI-based processing, video rendering and the powering of blockchain computations. 

Focussing on gamers due to this community typically having the higher performing data processing devices idling in their PCs, GAIMIN rewards users with GAIMIN tokens reflecting the value of the work their computer has put in, and these can then be transferred to other crypto-currencies or held onto. It’s important to note that their token, GMRX, is not yet listed on an exchange.

The platform also allows users to integrate NFTs into their gameplay through the GAIMIN Marketplace, which brings together various games that have blockchain functionality. The upcoming game The Harvest will be launching on the GAIMIN platform with Web 3 technology, perhaps why GAIMIN are in the process of signing up a team for a game that’s not fully launched yet.

GAIMIN’s strategy of extending their reach to the Esports teams seems to be working, in fact, thriving. Each of the teams is showing extreme promise, and their brand is undoubtedly growing. We’re excited to see where this brand takes these teams – and we look forward to any future updates.

Cover image credits: Gaimin Gladiators