The main Dota 2 tournament of the year came to an end in Hamburg over the weekend, bringing unforgettable emotions to esports fans. The main favorites from Team Spirit did not make it to the playoffs, the young talent Satanic was unable to help PARIVISION, and the Chinese player Ame lost his third TI final in a row! In this 1xBet review, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about The International 2025 tournament.
The Road to The International 2025
The tournament’s group stage did not go according to plan, with Xtreme Gaming, BetBoom, and Tidebound, who were not even among the top five favorites before the tournament, advancing to the playoffs. At the same time, the strongest teams in the tournament — Spirit, PARIVISION, Falcons, and Liquid — struggled to make it to the Elimination Round for a chance to reach the final stage.
PARIVISION easily defeated Wildcard (2-0), while Liquid couldn’t beat Tundra (1-2) and left the tournament. HEROIC and Nigma Galaxy also advanced, winning against Yakutou Brothers and Aurora Gaming, respectively.
The most spectacular clash of the day was the elimination match between the main favorites — Spirit, who could have become the first three-time winners in TI history, and Falcons, who assembled their first Dota 2 roster only two years ago.
The first game between two evenly matched opponents lasted a record 76 minutes. However, by the 45-50 minute mark, after an unsuccessful team fight for Spirit, it became clear that a comeback was impossible. The second game was dominated by Falcons, who ultimately advanced to the playoffs with a 2-0 score. Thus, Falcons stopped Dragons for the second consecutive time after the FISSURE Universe: Episode 6 final.
The International 2025 Playoffs
After two-time winners of The International, Spirit and Liquid, were eliminated, the list of favorites was renewed. Before the playoffs began, experts released an updated top 5: Xtreme Gaming, Falcons, Tidebound, PARIVISION, and BetBoom. This prediction turned out to be much more accurate than the previous ones.
The group stage sensation, Team Tidebound (4-1), lost their first two playoff matches and left the tournament in 7th-8th place. The second eliminated squad was Tundra, who played with Tobi as a replacement, as the team’s Indonesian player, Matthew “Whitemon” Filemon, could not attend the tournament. HEROIC and Nigma Galaxy lasted a little longer, ultimately taking 5th-6th place. BetBoom and PARIVISION were the biggest playoff disappointments, failing to live up to the expectations set by experts. However, 17-year-old Alan “Satanic” Gallyamov from PARIVISION showed excellent performance — sooner or later, he will definitely conquer TI.
Team Falcons dominated the playoffs and deservedly advanced to the grand final in the upper bracket, consecutively defeating Tidebound (2-0), BetBoom (2-1), and PARIVISION (2-1). The second participant in the grand final was Xtreme Gaming, whose victory in TI before the tournament started was estimated at odds of 29, and their entry into the final at odds of 15!
The Chinese team, led by its star player Wang “Ame” Chunyu, beat Tundra (2-0) in the opening match, dropped to the lower bracket after losing to PARIVISION (0-2), and then managed to defeat Nigma Galaxy (2-0), BetBoom (2-0), and avenge PARIVISION in the lower bracket final (2-1), stopping them from reaching the grand final.
The International 2025 Grand Final
In the tournament main match, Xtreme Gaming took the lead twice, winning the first and third encounters, but Falcons managed to even the score each time. For only the fourth time in the history of the TI finals, they reached the decisive fifth map. Before it started, the Chinese carry player Ame couldn’t help but recall the discouraging statistics — in 2018 and 2021, he lost the TI grand finals twice as a member of PSG with a 2-3 score. Everyone was wondering: would this final repeat the same scenario, or would Ame finally overcome the curse of the fifth map?
By the 12th minute of the decisive clash, Falcons had already started to build a gold lead. By the 50th minute, they had finally surpassed their opponents in experience, and after the final clash just past the hour mark, they closed out the game in their favor.
Thus, on their second attempt, Falcons won their first Aegis of Champions (last year’s TI was the team’s first). The prize pool for The International 2025 has exceeded $2,700,000 and continues to grow, so the winners are guaranteed to receive at least $1,150,000.
Two champions’ players have already won TI as part of Tundra Esports in 2022 – Oliver “skiter” Lepko and Jingjun “Sneyking” Wu. Stanislav “Malr1ne” Potorak was named the best player of The International 2025 tournament. And the first three-time TI winner in Dota 2 history was Falcons coach Kurtis “Aui_2000” Ling, who previously won The International 2015 as a player for Evil Geniuses and The International 2022 as a coach for Tundra Esports.
At its peak, The International 2025 attracted 1.77 million viewers, the best result for tournaments in this series since the post-COVID TI 2021. Immediately after the grand final, Valve announced that the next The International 2026 will take place in Shanghai, which gives reason to expect further audience growth.
