While Shopify Rebellion were the top dogs of North America all year long, Wildcard turned the tables at just the right time to qualify for TI 2025.
North American Dota 2 stalwarts 
Wildcard will be their region's lone representative in The International (TI) 2025 after they defeated 
Shopify Rebellion, 3-1, in the grand finals of the tournament's North American regional qualifier on Friday (13 June).
With the North American Dota 2 scene continuing to struggle to stay relevant, Wildcard and Shopify Rebellion have been the only noteworthy teams in the region all year long. The two organisations have been going about it in widely different ways though.
Wildcard competes with a majority North American roster, featuring 
Luke “YamSun” Wang, 
Francis “RCY” Fundemera, Victor “Fayde” Zuev, 
Danilo “Bignum-” Shehovstov, and Paul “Speeed” Bocchicchio. In stark contrast, Shopify Rebellion doesn't have any North American players and instead fields a fully international roster, which includes 
Enzo “Timado” Gianoli, Erin Jasper “Yopaj” Ferrer, 
Cedric “Davai Lama” Deckmyn, 
Kirill “Hellscream” Lagutik, and Rolen Andre Gabriel “Skem” Ong.
The fact that Wildcard managed to defeat Shopify Rebellion and qualify for TI 2025 with a North American roster is a huge win for a region that has languished for years now, as players from other regions moved there for easier competition.
TI 2025's North American regional qualifier kicked off with both Wildcard and Shopify Rebellion breezing through the first two rounds of the upper bracket to get their first meeting of the qualifier in the upper bracket finals. While Shopify Rebellion have held the upper hand on this matchup all year long, Wildcard turned the tables at just the right time with a 2-0 sweep to become the first team in the grand finals.
Shopify Rebellion then made quick work of BSJ and friends in the lower bracket finals to earn a rematch with Wildcard for an all-important spot in TI 2025.
Wildcard struck first in the grand finals with a 30-minute stomp, only for Shopify Rebellion to do the same to their opponents in a 31-minute game two to tie up the series at 1-1. Wildcard then dominated the pivotal third game of the series in 26 minutes of action to get within arm's reach of a spot in TI 2025. However, Shopify Rebellion managed to grind out a 76-minute win in game four to send the grand finals to a deciding game five.
But with everything on the line in game five, Wildcard clutched out the win in 35 minutes to claim the 3-2 series victory and a spot in this year's Dota 2 world championship tournament.
With their victory in the North American regional qualifier, Wildcard will join Eastern European qualifier winner 
Aurora Gaming, South American qualifier winner 
HEROIC, and Chinese regional qualifier winner 
Xtreme Gaming among the teams to have successfully fought for their way to a spot in TI 2025.
This year's TI regional qualifiers will take place across two weeks of competition from 4 to 17 June, with three batches of two qualifiers each being played at a time. The final set of regional qualifiers will be for Southeast Asia and Western Europe, which will be hosted from 13 to 17 June, and with two teams from each qualifier advancing to this year's Dota 2 world championship tournament.
The winners of the TI 2025 regional qualifiers will join eight directly-invited teams in this year's Dota 2 world championship tournament. The direct invite teams include defending TI champions 
Team Liquid, 
Tundra Esports, 
Team Falcons, and 
Gaimin Gladiators from Western Europe; 
PARIVISION, 
BetBoom Team, and 
Team Spirit from Eastern Europe; as well as 
All Gamers Global (formerly 
Team Tidebound) from China.
For Dota 2 match results and updates on the go, don't forget to check out our Telegram channel.
