Team Falcons top Group A at DreamLeague Season 29 Group Stage

Team Falcons have seemingly returned to their winning ways with a perfect run through the DreamLeague Season 29 Group Stage.

Reigning The International (TI) champions Team Falcons are seemingly back to their winning ways as the Dota 2 action in the DreamLeague Season 29 Group Stage has mostly concluded. The current holders of the Aegis of Champions finished with a perfect 7-0 record to top Group A and secure an upper bracket berth in the Playoffs.

Team Spirit, Team Liquid, and Aurora Gaming round out the Top 4 of Group A and will join Falcons in the upper bracket. Virtus.pro (VP) and Vici Gaming (VG) finish fifth and sixth, respectively, to also qualify for the Playoffs, though they will have to start in the lower bracket. Meanwhile, ex-HEROIC and GamerLegion have been eliminated.

As for Group B, tiebreaker matches still need to be played in order to determine which teams will take the fourth, fifth, and sixth seeds.

Eastern European powerhouses Natus Vincere (NAVI), PARIVISION, and BetBoom Team have already secured the Top 3 seeds of Group B. The fourth seed, and with it the final upper bracket spot for the group, is still up for grabs between Tundra Esports, PlayTime, and Xtreme Gaming. Meanwhile, Nigma Galaxy and REKONIX failed to make it out of the Group Stage.

With competition in Group A of the DreamLeague Season 29 Group Stage already concluded, read on for a breakdown of all the action in that group:

DreamLeague Season 29

Type: Online
Schedule: 13-24 May, 2026
Participating teams: 16
Prize pool: US$1 million
Organiser: ESL Gaming

Team Falcons claim top seed of Group A with clean 7-0 record

After relatively middling results for the caliber of reigning TI champions so far this season, Falcons seem to have finally woken up from their post-TI slump to become the best-performing team of the DreamLeague Season 29 Group Stage. Falcons won all seven matches they played in the preliminaries off of a 14-3 overall game record. Their three game losses came in 2-1 victories over VP, Spirit, and GamerLegion while they scored 2-0 sweeps over Liquid, ex-HEROIC, VG, and Aurora.

Sitting in second place in Group A are Spirit, who have performed excellently despite a roster overhaul shortly before the tournament started, signing a new position 4 support in Kosmynin “not me” Alexey while moving Aleksandr “rue” Filin to position 5. Not me has performed excellently so far in his debut event with Spirit, helping the team to an impressive 6-1 record. Spirit notably looked dominant outside of their only loss of the Group Stage to Falcons, as five of their six series victories were all 2-0 sweeps.

Liquid took the third seed with a 5-2 series record off of 11 game wins against six losses. As arguably the most consistent contender of the season so far, Liquid have been performing as expected, with their two match losses coming at the hands of Group A's Top 2 seeds in Falcons and Spirit.

Aurora have also lived up to expectations in the Group Stage, claiming the fourth seed and the final upper bracket berth for the group with a 4-3 series record. Their three losses were all against higher seeds and they took care of business against teams they were expected to beat.

With the relatively top-heavy field in Group A, VP and VG have done well to secure what wins they can to qualify for the Playoffs. Both squads finished with 2-5 series records, with VP winning against ex-HEROIC and VG while VG beat ex-HEROIC and GamerLegion.

GamerLegion and ex-HEROIC only managed 1-6 records apiece, which were unfortunately not enough for them to advance to the Playoffs. GamerLegion's only series victory was against VP, though they also handed ex-HEROIC their only win of the stage.

Here are the final standings for Group A of the DreamLeague Season 29 Group Stage:

Team Falcons: 7-0 (14-3)
Team Spirit: 6-1 (13-3)
Team Liquid: 5-2 (11-6)
Aurora Gaming: 4-3 (9-8)
Virtus.pro: 2-5 (7-10)
Vici Gaming: 2-5 (6-10)
ex-HEROIC: 1-6 (2-12)
GamerLegion: 1-6 (3-13)

Here are the full results for Group A of the DreamLeague Season 29 Group Stage:

Team Liquid 2-1 Aurora Gaming
Team Spirit 2-0 Vici Gaming
Team Falcons 2-1 Virtus.pro
ex-HEROIC 2-0 GamerLegion
Team Spirit 2-1 Team Liquid
Team Falcons 2-0 Aurora Gaming
Virtus.pro 2-0 ex-HEROIC
Vici Gaming 2-0 GamerLegion
Team Spirit 2-0 Aurora Gaming
Team Falcons 2-0 ex-HEROIC
Team Liquid 2-0 GamerLegion
Virtus.pro 2-0 Vici Gaming
Team Liquid 2-0 Virtus.pro
Aurora Gaming 2-0 ex-HEROIC
Team Spirit 2-0 GamerLegion
Team Falcons 2-0 Vici Gaming
Team Falcons 2-0 Team Liquid
Team Spirit 2-0 Virtus.pro
Aurora Gaming 2-0 GamerLegion
Vici Gaming 2-0 ex-HEROIC
Team Falcons 2-1 Team Spirit
Team Liquid 2-0 ex-HEROIC
Aurora Gaming 2-1 Vici Gaming
GamerLegion 2-1 Virtus.pro
Aurora Gaming 2-1 Virtus.pro
Team Falcons 2-1 GamerLegion
Team Liquid 2-1 Vici Gaming
Team Spirit 2-0 ex-HEROIC

Once the Group B tiebreakers have been played and full seeding for the Group Stage determined, DreamLeague Season 29 will move to the Playoffs. The DreamLeague Season 29 Playoffs will take place from 19 to 24 May and will follow a double-elimination format with all matches being a best-of-three except for the grand finals, which will be a full best-of-five series.

The Top 4 teams from each group of the Group Stage will start the Playoffs in the upper bracket while the fifth and sixth-placed teams will start in the lower bracket.

What's at stake at DreamLeague Season 29?

The teams in DreamLeague Season 29 will be playing for their cut of a US$1 million prize pool, with all Playoff-qualified teams guaranteed at least US$30,000 in winnings while the champions will walk away with the grand prize of US$290,000.

Also up for grabs are ESL Pro Tour (EPT) points that will go towards qualification for the Dota 2 competition at the Esports World Cup (EWC) 2026. Following the conclusion of DreamLeague Season 29, the Top 13 teams in the EPT Leaderboard will qualify for the EWC 2026. Among the teams still playing in DreamLeague Season 29, BetBoom, VP, NAVI, and PlayTime will be looking to earn enough EPT points to be among the 13 teams qualified for EWC 2026.