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An image of Team Spirit during the Dota 2 Esports World Cup 2025.

Team Spirit are the champions of the Dota 2 Esports World Cup 2025 (Image: Esports World Cup).

Dota 2

5 months ago

Team Spirit sweep Team Falcons to win the Dota 2 Esports World Cup 2025

Team Spirit claimed the championship after an absolutely dominant run, dropping just one game throughout the entire tournament.

Eastern European Dota 2 juggernauts Team Spirit have reclaimed their place atop the scene by winning the Esports World Cup (EWC) 2025's Dota 2 competition with a 3-0 sweep over Team Falcons in the grand finals on Sunday (20 July). Spirit's dominant campaign in the tournament saw them just drop one game in their first match of the Group Stage, claiming the trophy after winning 11 games in a row.

With their victory, Spirit claimed the grand prize of US$1 million out of the tournament's US$3 million prize pool. This also marks Spirit's second time winning what has become Dota 2's biggest event outside of The International (TI). In 2023, the team won that year's Riyadh Masters, the esports tournament series that would eventually become the EWC in 2024.

With the EWC also being the last major tournament before TI 2025 kicks off in September, Spirit's victory there also elevated them to becoming the biggest favourites for this year's Dota 2 world championship tournament–where the champions of TI 2021 and 2023 will be gunning for a historic third Aegis of Champions. It is worth noting that Spirit won the equivalent of the EWC in 2023 then went on to win that year's TI to claim their second Aegis of Champions.

Spirit and Falcons took widely different paths to the Dota 2 EWC grand finals. In the Group Stage, Spirit topped the standings of Group A with a 5-1 record off of 2-0 sweeps over Talon Esports and Natus Vincere (NAVI) and a 1-1 draw against Xtreme Gaming. As the top seed of their group, Spirit automatically advanced to the single-elimination Playoffs.

Meanwhile, Falcons stumbled to start the tournament, only managing a 2-4 record after losing 0-2 to BetBoom Team and drawing 1-1 with Gaimin Gladiators and Execration. Falcons then had to fight through the Elimination Phase to earn a spot in the Playoffs. After their slow start, Falcons played their way into shape with back-to-back sweeps over Virtus.pro and NAVI to advance to the final phase of the tournament.

In the Playoffs, Spirit maintained their momentum from the Group Stage despite having a four-day break. They first routed Gaimin Gladiators in the quarterfinals before soundly sweeping regional rivals PARIVISION in the semifinals to become the first team in the grand finals.

With their slow start to the tournament far behind them, Falcons also swept their opponents en route to the championship round. They took down defending TI champions Team Liquid in the quarterfinals then overcame Tundra Esports in the semifinals to earn the right to challenge Spirit for the Dota 2 EWC championship.

Team Spirit3-0Team Falcons

Spirit were on fire to start the grand finals, rolling out with a fearsome mid game-centric draft headlined by Templar Assassin for Illya “Yatoro” Mulyarchuk, Queen of Pain for Denis “Larl” Sigitov, and an offlane Lycan for Magomed “Collapse” Khalilov. Despite a relatively quiet early game, Spirit started dominating once their lineup came online and smashed Falcons in straight-up teamfights.

Falcons proceeded to split the map and avoid clashes in an ultimately futile attempt to mount a comeback, with Spirit eventually breaking through their defenses to claim their first win of the series in just under 40 minutes of action. Yatoro led the way for Spirit in game one, notching 10 kills and eight assists on just one death out of his team's 22-14 kill lead.

Game two saw Spirit draft a slower lineup with Yatoro on Medusa, Larl on Storm Spirit, and Collapse on Mars. Meanwhile, Alexandr “rue” Filin on Rubick and Yaroslav “Miposhka” Naidenov on Silencer provided teamfight control from the backlines.

The second game followed a similar script as the series opener, with Spirit's lineup proving vastly superior over Falcons' in teamfights from the mid game onwards. Falcons once again split the map to force mistakes from their opponents, but Spirit's disciplined and clinical execution allowed them to secure a commanding 2-0 series lead after 40 minutes. Yatoro and Larl combined for a clean 13 kills and 26 assists in a 25-9 stomp, with Collapse also adding eight kills and 13 assists on one death.

Smelling blood in the water, Spirit pulled out a confident draft in game three headlined by a carry Shadow Fiend for Yatoro. Larl on a mid Monkey King and Collapse on Dawnbreaker provided strong area-of-effect ultimates to help dominate teamfights while rue on Lion and Miposhka on Clockwerk were in charge of initiating fights.

Despite Falcons' best efforts to extend the series, they were simply outclassed by Spirit in game three. Spirit dominated from the get-go, swatting Falcons aside in one clash after another before eventually forcing the final GG call after a 33-minute bloodbath where they finished with a 48-13 kill lead.

Yatoro paced his team's kill score with 14 kills and 23 assists on two deaths, Collapse added 13 kills and 20 assists on one death, while Larl pitched in with 11 kills and 22 assists on one death. 


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