One thing that will go down as one of the most memorable stories of 2016, if not in Major history, is Ad Finem’s incredible journey at the Boston Major.
After grinding its way through Europe, one of Dota 2’s toughest regions, the all-Greek squad qualified for Valve’s fall event and began the tourney as virtual unknowns, with teams like TI winners Wings, Evil Geniuses and multiple Major winners OG also playing at Wang Theatre.
But once the newly implemented single elimination bracket started, Ad Finem reaped a year’s worth of hard work, incredibly marching its way to the Finals, where the then two-time Major winner OG was waiting.
In the end, Ad Finem’s David-vs-Goliath story failed to materialize, as they fell 1-3 to the more experienced and better-known OG, which has now bagged a record three Valve event trophies, most in Dota 2 history.
Sure, Ad Finem lost the final battle, but the Greeks won the hearts of those watching their have-fun-first-compete-later philosophy, especially in the face of breathtaking pressure and overwhelming odds.
Now, let’s take a look back at how the Lions from Greece pounced their way from a middling side, to a championship one.
DIFFERENT ROADS, SAME DESTINATION
Before the five members of Ad Finem teamed up, they were individually bouncing along different Greek teams, playing together as two or as three, but never as the quintet that the world enjoyed watching and supporting in Boston.
Ad Finem captain and position 5 player Giorgos “SsaSpartan” Giannakopoulos first played with carry Omar “Madara” Dabachach on XtremeXPC in May 2014. Spartan and Madara played well together, and the cohesion between carry and support was evident with the 61% win-rate the pair has compiled in more than 180 games together before Boston.
The pair even played in an all-Greek lineup with London Conspiracy, but contract issues led to Madara’s exodus, and the carry created his own team called Golden Boys. The 1-5 pairing will be later reunited when Madara left GB to join Spartan in No Logic Gaming, where the Spartan was playing with a midlaner named Dimitris “ThuG” Plivouris.
ThuG used to play with Greek-based organization Elysium Gaming, where he first played with Ad Finem’s position 4 player Verros “Maybe Next Time” Apostolos, who played with both Spartan and Madara as a stand-in when the pair was still with XPC.
Ad Finem’s offlaner, Kharis “SkyLark” Zafiriou, first entered the pro scene with Elysium Gaming, but left after just 20 matches and went on hiatus, returning after almost a year and teamed up with Madara and Spartan in London Conspiracy. He was also with Madara when the carry left LC and formed Golden Boys, which also employed ThuG as a sub for some time.
It took two long years and at least four teams before the five players got together, and when Ad Finem threw all these five players into one strange mix, well, it did not really workout.
LONG ROAD
The quintet was officially made on December 4, 2015, and played their first tournament, the ProDota Cup Europe #1, on December 12 that year and placed 9th-16th.
But their inconsistent performances saw them finish low in many online tourneys, and their biggest coup before their Cinderella-story in Boston was the $7,000 they earned for finishing 5th in DreamLeague Season 5 League Play.
Even in their road to Boston, the Greeks did not look like a top-tier team in the qualifiers in Europe, finishing only fourth among ten teams, and below strong sides Team Liquid, Team Secret and Virtus.pro.
Maybe the Dota2 gods wanted to reward the Ad Finem guys for sticking it out together during the post-TI6 shuffle, or Zeus (the Greek god, not the Dota2 character) intervened with the qualifiers, but Ad Finem then started to show some semblance of what they are now, stunning Secret 2-0 in the first round of the knockout, then thrashing Liquid 2-0 in the second.
The rest, as we know, is history. OR, just recent history, since the Boston Major was just last month (yes, it was last year!), and all five are still out there, together, looking to pull off upsets and capturing hearts of audiences (you can still hear Spartan banging his chest with the crowd chanting AOU, AOU, AOU).
But, the Greeks-next-door now face bigger challenges, and face greater pressure since they are now under the microscope. Soon, calls will be made to upgrade on this position, or that position, and that there are better Greeks out there.
Can Spartan keep this Phalanx stable, or will it crumble against the forces of the world?
