The tournament favourites are set to face off against an unexpected challenger for the lion's share of a US$3 million prize pool.
The semifinals of the Dota 2 competition at the Esports World Cup (EWC) 2025 concluded on 18 July with the confirmation of the grand finalists. Tournament favourites 
Team Spirit and unanticipated challenger 
Team Falcons will face off in the grand finale for a million-dollar share of the US$3 million prize pool.
Team Spirit secured the first finals spot convincingly with a 2-0 victory against their fellow Eastern European rival, 
PARIVISION. Meanwhile, Team Falcons edged out the stronger 
Tundra Esports in a back-to-back comeback performance. The losers of both semifinal rounds will face each other in a third-place match, with US$300,000 on the line.
Read below for a full breakdown of the Dota 2 EWC Semifinals.
Dota 2 EWC Semifinals Recap
Team Spirit 2-0 PARIVISION
This Eastern European showdown was one of the most anticipated matchups of the tournament. PARIVISION have been a rising force, despite only forming at the start of the season, and claimed the most LAN victories since December of last year. However, the two-time The International (TI) champions have been a thorn in their side, knocking them out of two previous tournaments, though PARIVISION did triumph over them in the ESL One Raleigh 2025 grand finals.
Heading into this series, expectations were high. PARIVISION held the crown for the early season, but you can never count out Team Spirit, especially in a high-stakes setting.
The opening game saw PARIVISION draft a peculiar offlane Ogre Magi, a strategy unique to them in this tournament, with a decent win rate. Team Spirit, on the other hand, went with a full lineup of meta-favored heroes such as Shadow Shaman and Nature’s Prophet.
Early skirmishes were evenly matched, but the game’s tempo soon shifted in Spirit’s favor once they grouped up and fought as five. 
Volodymyr “No[o]ne” Minenko’s Storm Spirit quickly became a target, shut down by Shaman’s disables and Batrider’s Lasso.
At minute 35, Spirit started chipping away at the opponent’s high ground. With no way to counter their siege, PARIVISION attempted a desperate fight at their triangle, even expending two core buybacks. However, Spirit held an Aegis and responded with their own buybacks, winning the fight and forcing diebacks on PARIVISION’s side. With an open path to the base, PARIVISION called GG at 44 minutes.
In game two, PARIVISION stuck with the Doom carry lineup, while Spirit continued to rely on Illya “Yatoro” Mulyarchuk’s Nature’s Prophet. Unlike the first match, PARIVISION dominated the early game, winning the laning phase and building a significant net worth lead. They consistently picked off Yatoro and claimed the first Roshan, initiating their high ground push at 27 minutes.
However, Team Spirit narrowly held the line during that defense, expertly kiting their opponents while 
Magomed “Collapse” Khalilov’s Primal Beast dealt massive damage and crowd control, finishing the fight with a triple kill. True to Spirit’s nature, they quickly turned the momentum in their favor and began aggressively hunting their opponents.
As the game entered the late stage, PARIVISION played cautiously and attempted another Roshan, which Spirit successfully contested. Collapse’s Primal Beast managed to snatch the Aegis—an event that happened twice throughout two different Roshan attempts. Ultimately, Team Spirit pulled off an iconic comeback and closed out the game at 49 minutes.
Tundra Esports 0-2 Team Falcons
This Western European showdown followed the first semifinal series with equally intense games and a similar outcome. Tundra Esports had a strong start to the season, and despite roster changes, 
Remco “Crystallis” Arets replacing Anton “dyrachyo” Shkredov in the carry position, they remained a top-tier contender, having won BLAST Slam II in May. Notably, they defeated Team Falcons in the grand finals of that event, a rematch now set for the EWC Semifinals.
Team Falcons have been a difficult team to read. Known for their dominant run in the 2023–2024 season, where they claimed seven tournament wins, they struggled to replicate that form this year and fell out of the top contender conversation. Being in this semifinals matchup was already a decent surprise, but Falcons was ready to prove more against the stronger Tundra.
Game one saw Tundra draft a signature Visage for 
Neta “33” Shapira and a comfort pick Monkey King for Crystallis. Falcons responded with 
Ammar “ATF” Assaf's Mars and 
Oliver “Skiter” Lepko’s Gyrocopter—both comfort picks. For the first 27 minutes, Tundra held strong map control and a net worth lead. Even when Falcons found pick-offs, Tundra quickly traded kills to maintain their advantage.
However, a pivotal fight in the mid lane changed everything. Crystallis’s Monkey King got stuck on the walls of Mars’s Arena—a known bug that has yet to be fixed. Falcons capitalized on this, ending Monkey King’s Godlike streak and collecting additional kills. With this momentum, they took Roshan and successfully pushed high ground. The match ended in a dramatic net worth swing, with Falcons taking the win at 45 minutes.
If game one wasn’t thrilling enough, then game two delivered an even more astonishing comeback. Tundra focused heavily on shutting down Stanislav “Malr1ne” Potorak’s Ember Spirit, bringing multiple heroes mid to stop his momentum. At one point, Malr1ne sat at a 0/7 scoreline by the 14-minute mark, hovering in net worth among the game’s support. Tundra convincingly led the early phase with a 12,000 net worth advantage and a 20–5 kill score at 21 minutes.
Falcons, however, stayed composed and began to hunt for pick-offs. Great decision-making led to crucial kills, and although Tundra continued to control most fights, Falcons steadily gained ground.
As the game stretched into the late phase, Falcons won more skirmishes and, by the 50-minute mark, claimed their first net worth lead. The match extended into a staggering 80-minute battle, with Falcons pulling off counterattacks that eventually turned into a full-blown comeback. Despite his rough start, Malr1ne emerged as the standout player, controlling the pace of the late game and dismantling Tundra’s formation.
The Dota 2 EWC Semifinals bid farewell to PARIVISION and Tundra Esports, who will now battle for third place on 19 July. After that, all eyes turn to the main event, as Team Spirit and Team Falcons face off for the championship title and a million-dollar prize.
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