Xtreme Gaming sweep Tundra Esports to advance to The International 2025 higher bracket semifinals

Xtreme Gaming have now received all 5 matches they’ve performed to date in The International 2025.

The ultimate battle for this yr’s Aegis of Champions has lastly begun. Chinese Dota 2 powerhouse Xtreme Gaming scored the primary victory of The International (TI) 2025 Playoffs in Hamburg’s Barclays Arena with a 2-0 sweep over TI 2022 champions Tundra Esports within the higher bracket quarterfinals on Thursday (11 September).

Xtreme weren’t among the many largest contenders heading into TI 2025. Having languished beneath the shadow of Team Tidebound for many of the yr, they needed to earn their spot within the match by means of the Chinese regional qualifier in March. Not solely that, they grew to become to unable to compete with their authentic roster after Wilson “poloson” Koh Chin was sidelined with the intention to get better from well being points in July. Xtreme tapped adorned veteran Jian Wei “xNova-” Yap as poloson’s stand-in for TI 2025.

Meanwhile, Tundra earned a direct invite to TI 2025 after a fiery begin to the yr. They received FISSURE Playground 1 and BLAST Slam II in February, completed second in DreamLeague Season 25 and PGL Wallachia Season 3 in March, and received once more in BLAST Slam III in May. However, Tundra additionally couldn’t compete in TI 2025 with their full roster after Matthew “Whitemon” Filemon encountered visa points. Tobias “Tobi” Buchner was then chosen as Tundra’s last-minute stand-in.

But as soon as TI 2025 kicked off, Xtreme rapidly cemented themselves as the most important contenders for the Aegis of Champions by cruising by means of the Group Stage as the one workforce to win all their matches. They defeated Eastern Europe’s Aurora Gaming and Team Spirit, Western Europe’s Team Falcons, and regional rivals Tidebound to turn out to be the primary workforce to advance to the Playoffs.

Tundra, however, have been visibly affected by having to play with a last-minute stand-in. They solely managed a 2-3 document, with wins over Yakutou Brothers and Natus Vincere in opposition to losses to Falcons, Spirit, and HEROIC. Despite a shaky begin in then Group Stage, Tundra bounced again simply in time for the Elimination Stage and knocked out defending champions Team Liquid to earn their spot within the Playoffs.

Xtreme Gaming sweep Tundra Esports to kick off TI 2025 Playoffs

The first match of the Playoffs opened with Tundra working a daring technique targeted on profitable the laning stage and snowballing into a powerful mid recreation push earlier than Xtreme’s lineup got here on-line. Remco “Crystallis” Arets on Juggernaut, Bozhidar “bzm” Bogdanov on Storm Spirit, and Neta “33” Shapira on Lycan would lead the cost, whereas Martin “Saksa” Sazdov on Shadow Demon and Tobi on Warlock supplied saves and crowd management from the backlines.

Xtreme ran one in every of their signature drafts with robust scaling cores to take over within the late recreation, the place they’ve excelled all match lengthy. Wang “Ame” Chunyu led the best way on Troll Warlord whereas Hongcheng “Xm” Guo on Pangolier and Jing “Xxs” Lin on Beastmaster supplied robust teamfight talents. Zixing “XinQ” Zhao on a assist Tiny and xNova on Winter Wyvern would disrupt the enemy formation, with xNova additionally having the workforce’s main save means.

Game one had a gradual begin, which performed into Tundra’s arms as they handily received the lanes and farmed freely to hit their mid recreation timing. Xtreme managed to decelerate their opponents’ momentum by sneaking the primary Roshan of the sport and profitable the following combat, Tundra nonetheless took over by scoring a teamwipe within the first huge conflict of the sport on the 26-minute mark.

Tundra then leveraged their benefit by pushing up Xtreme’s excessive floor on the center lane and declare a ranged barracks, however the Chinese squad placed on a masterful protection to show the tables. With Tundra’s momentum halted simply as their lineup began peaking, Xtreme methodically picked aside their opponents and finally claimed the opening recreation of the collection after 55 minutes of motion.

Game two then noticed Xtreme flex their muscular tissues as they gave Ame the rarely-picked Clinkz to headline a powerful burst harm lineup. Rounding out the remainder of the workforce have been Xm’s Queen of Pain, Xxs’ Slardar, XinQ’s Hoodwink, and xNova’s Warlock. Tundra appeared to match their opponents with a powerful teamfight lineup, which included a carry Abaddon for Crystallis, Earthshaker for bzm, Sand King for 33, Snapfire for Saksa, and Pugna for Tobi. 

While Tundra have been in a position to rating some early kills, Xtreme held the lead from the get-go and by no means appeared again. The Chinese squad made good use of their heroes’ large harm output to win skirmishes and hamper their opponents’ development. While Tundra confirmed indicators of life by scoring a teamwipe across the 20-minute mark, Xtreme appeared nigh-unstoppable as they closed out the 2-0 collection sweep in a 45-minute rout.

With their victory, Xtreme advance to the higher bracket semifinals and have assured themselves a minimum of a Top 6 end in addition to slightly below US$130,000 in winnings. They will subsequent face the winner of the second higher bracket quarterfinal match between PARIVISION and HEROIC. Meanwhile, Tundra drop all the way down to the primary spherical of the decrease bracket, the place they must combat for his or her match lives.

For extra info on the most important Dota 2 match of the yr, try GosuGamers’ information to this yr’s Dota 2 world championship match and TI 2025 match tracker.

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