PGL Arlington 2022 was the most recent Dota 2 Major. Check out which matches you shouldn't miss out!

PGL Arlington 2022 was a successful Major, as the tournament had broken viewership records. This Major was also unique because the tournament would feature Chinese teams, as they unfortunately could not attend the previous Major. Let's find out some of the most exciting matches that helped this Major gain hundreds of thousands of viewers!

PSG.LGD vs Team Spirit Grand Finals

In PGL Arlington 2022, fans were treated to a Ti10 Grand Final rematch between PSG.LGD and Team Spirit. As usual, PSG.LGD had dominated the entire Upper Bracket to make it to the Grand Finals, even knocking Team Spirit down along the way. But, Team Spirit had different plans in their second head-to-head matchup in the Major. The Dota 2 predictions had heavily favored PSG.LGD in this matchup. But, we all knew how The International 10 ended.

In particular, Game 2 of this best of 5 series was one of the best Dota 2 matches in the event. We had terrific team fights between both teams, where the game was constantly going back and forth. Team Spirit was able to pull a comeback on the back of a massive fight, which led them to have control over the game. 

The game went on for 75 minutes and had everything from insane plays to close fights around the Roshan Pit to Yatoro buying two Divine Rapiers. Team Spirit won the nail-biting final fight outside the Roshan Pit and converted a team wipe into a "GG" call from PSG.LGD.

Team Spirit could carry the momentum they had gotten from Game 2 into winning the next two games in convincing fashion. Closing out the series 2-1 meant that Team Spirit could crown themselves as the champions of PGL Arlington 2022.

Team Aster vs Team Entity Lower Bracket Semi-Finals

Members of the Dota 2 community had high expectations for Chinese teams in PGL Arlington, and Team Aster was a strong contender coming into this event. Their opponent in the Lower Bracket Semi-Finals was Team Entity, who was using a stand-in as their Carry player Ivan "Pure" Moskalenko, could not make it. Though the predictions on Dota 2 matches heavily favored Team Aster, Team Entity put up a great fight and certainly made the game entertaining.

The Game 3 decider was a fantastic match, with the game ending at the 55-minute mark. Team Entity was ahead for most parts of the game, and everyone thought Team Entity had the victory in the bag. However, with excellent coordination in crucial team fights, Team Aster was able to bring the game back to even.

Jonáš "SabeRLight-" Volek's Doom was a massive threat to the Team Aster side, so two of Aster's core heroes bought Linken's Spheres. The Aster players coordinated their Linken's Spheres well by applying the item's active ability onto each other when necessary. The synergy blocked SabeRLight's ultimate ability multiple times and helped Team Aster pull off a massive comeback to move on to the next stage of the Major.

Outsiders vs Beastcoast Lower Bracket Round 2

Outsiders vs Beastcoast was an exciting series because Beastcoast is an incredibly aggressive team. It was enjoyable watching lots of skirmishes happen throughout the three maps because of how the South American team plays. At the end of the series, Beastcoast had taken the win, upsetting the Dota 2 predictions, which had them listed as the underdogs.

However, the recent news from Valve made this matchup even more enjoyable. Outsiders entered this game thinking they already qualified for The International since they gathered enough DPC Points to secure their invite. But, it turns out that a mathematical error has resulted in them having one less point than Fnatic, meaning that they would not be invited to TI.

If Outsiders had won this series over Beastcoast, their Ti invite would have been secured, but they did not know about this coming into the match. Outsiders will now have to fight their way through the regional qualifiers.

Team Spirit vs Outsiders Upper Bracket Quarter Finals

It was extremely fitting that the two Eastern European giants faced off against each other in the Upper Bracket Quarter Finals. What made this matchup more exciting is that the winner of this match would secure themselves an invite to Ti10. The stakes of this matchup were high, so both teams gave it their all and provided the fans with a very entertaining series.

Game 1 lasted for 59 minutes and was quite a back-and-forth game, despite Outsiders having the net worth lead for almost the entire game. Despite Alexander "TORONTOTOKYO" Khertek's incredible performance on Void Spirit, Outsider's lineup was too strong for Team Spirit.

Game 2 also went above 50 minutes, ending at the 56-minute mark. We witnessed another intensely close match between the two Eastern European teams, with the net worth lead being considerably close throughout the match. The game went long enough until Roman "RAMZES666" Kushnarev felt the need to purchase a Divine Rapier. However, Illya "Yatoro" Mulyarchuk showed why he's considered one of the best Carry players in the world and sealed the game shut with his Phantom Lancer.

In the deciding game, it looked like a matter of experience in playing LAN Dota 2 events, as the inexperienced Outsiders roster looked entirely lost in Game 3. The TI-winning lineup made quick work of Outsiders and secured their invite to Ti10 in Singapore.

Conclusion

Lots of hype was building around the arrival of the Chinese teams, as their absence in the previous Major made the tournament less competitive. It wasn't perfect, as half of the Chinese teams had issues going into this event. Xtreme Gaming couldn't show up, and Royal Never Give Up had to play with a stand-in. Regardless, the two Chinese representatives made a good showing, and the rest of the teams in the event played well too.