Team Nemesis only managed to win two games across four match losses in their short time in The International 2025.

The first Dota 2 team has fallen on the grueling road to the Aegis of Champions. All-Filipino squad Team Nemesis became the first team to be eliminated from The International (TI) 2025 after getting swept by fellow Southeast Asian team BOOM Esports in the 0-3 elimination match of the Swiss-format Group Stage on Saturday (6 September).

All 16 participating teams in TI 2025 need to avoid suffering four match losses in the Group Stage to avoid early elimination. Unfortunately for Southeast Asia's two representatives in the tournament, they went winless in the first three rounds to get pitted against one another in round four.

Both Nemesis and BOOM promising starts to the Group Stage, managing to force their respective Round 1 matches to three games despite being massive underdogs. Nemesis were defeated by Western Europe's Team Falcons, notably narrowly losing game three in 70 minutes. Meanwhile, BOOM managed to take a game off of defending champions Team Liquid before ultimately losing the series.

In Round 2, Nemesis once again lost in three games to Chinese team Yakutou Brothers, who notably entered TI 2025 as a last-minute replacement for Gaimin Gladiators. BOOM were then swept by Eastern European powerhouse BetBoom Team in back-to-back 41-minute games.

Southeast Asia's horrendous start to TI 2025 then continued in Round 3 of the Group Stage, where Nemesis and BOOM were soundly swept by North America's Wildcard and South America's HEROIC in the 0-2 matches. As the only two teams with 0-3 records through the first three rounds, Southeast Asia's two representatives were forced to eliminate each other to keep their tournament hopes alive.

While Nemesis defeated BOOM in their last meeting in TI 2025's Southeast Asian regional qualifier, their showdown in the tournament itself saw the latter team get their revenge in dominant fashion.

Game one saw Nemesis pin their hopes on Eljohn “Akashi” Andales' Ursa to carry them in the series opener. However, BOOM deftly picked Axe for Anucha “Jabz” Jirawong to counter their opponents' carry pick. Jabz then proceeded to dominate the bottom lane and shut down Akashi, allowing BOOM to take the gold lead from the laning stage and never look back.

With Nemesis hamstrung so early on, it was a simple matter for BOOM to dominate the teamfights and force the GG call after 29 minutes. Jabz paced his team's 18-8 kill lead with seven kills and seven assists on two deaths, notably being responsible for two of Akashi's game-high five deaths.

Game two was a similar affair, as BOOM once again dominated the laning stage to snowball into an easy 30-minute win to secure the series sweep. Two of BOOM's Filipino players, Jaunuel “Jaunuel” Arcilla and Armel Paul “Armel” Tabios, notably played key roles in knocking their countrymen out of TI 2025. 

Jaunuel on a position 5 support Mirana recorded a game-high nine kills to go with 14 assists on three deaths out of BOOM's 27-9 kill lead. Armel on a mid Void Spirit added seven kills and 16 assists on two deaths. Souliya “JaCkky” Khoomphetsavong on Morphling also had a perfect five-kill, nine-assist performance.

Despite their commanding performance to secure their first victory of the Group Stage, BOOM are not out of danger yet. Their next match in Round 5 will see them take on another team with a 1-3 record in another elimination match. The winner will advance to the Elimination Stage, where they need to win one more match to advance to the Playoffs, while the loser will join Nemesis on the early flight home.  

For more information on the biggest Dota 2 tournament of the year, check out GosuGamers' guide to this year's Dota 2 world championship tournament and TI 2025 tournament tracker.

For Dota 2 match results and updates on the go, don't forget to check out our Telegram channel.