Alexei "Lex" Phillipov said that Valve invited Gainin Gladiators to The International 2025 simply to ensure the number of invited teams is an even number.

This commentator shared his views on his personal telegram channel:

Lex believes that choosing Gamin Gladiators is an unusual and the main reason may be just to ensure the number of invited teams is even. According to him, even this team himself is probably surprised to receive an invitation to the Dota 2 World Championship, because this season is not the most impressive time they play.

It should also be noted that the invitation from Valve can really be surprised for Gainin Gladiators. In a previous interview, Quinn "Quinn" Callahan shared that his team would have to prepare for The International 2025 qualifier, because they were hard to be invited directly this year.