Xtreme Gaming and Team Tidebound are now in position to become the first team to advance to the Playoffs. 

After years of struggle, the Chinese Dota 2 scene is finally making a comeback on the game's biggest stage as all three Chinese teams in The International (TI) 2025 secured crucial wins in the action-packed second day of the tournament's Group Stage. 

Xtreme Gaming and Team Tidebound secured 3-0 records and are now in prime position to advance to the Playoffs, while Yakutou Brothers have guaranteed themselves a spot in the Elimination Stage. Meanwhile, the tournament also saw its first elimination as Team Nemesis failed to secure a single match victory in the first four rounds of the Group Stage.

Day 2 of TI 2025's Group Stage kicked off with Xtreme taking down Western European powerhouse Team Falcons in a three-game marathon of a series. Falcons drew first blood in a 52-minute game one before Xtreme tied up the series after winning a 78-minute slugfest. The decider would be another drawn-out affair, with Xtreme emerging victorious in just under 70 minutes of action.

Tidebound would then follow up with a commanding 2-0 sweep over Eastern European tournament favourites PARIVISION. After PARIVISION swept their first two matches of the Group Stage, Tidebound made their opponents look very vulnerable in back-to-back stomps that totaled just under 87 minutes of game time.

With their 3-0 records, Xtreme and Tidebound are now set to take each other on for the first of three direct seeds to the Playoffs.

Yakutou Brothers, who notably entered TI 2025 as a last-minute replacement for Gaimin Gladiators, didn't have the best of start to the day however. They were soundly swept by Aurora Gaming in their first match of the day and were in real danger of getting eliminated early. However, they managed to bounce back in their second match in Round 4 by outlasting Nigma Galaxy in three games to guarantee themselves a spot in the Elimination Stage.

Southeast Asia crumble

But while China enjoyed a very successful Day 2 of the Group Stage, the same could not be said for Southeast Asia and its two representatives in Nemesis and BOOM Esports. Having already lost in the first two rounds of the Group Stage, Nemesis and BOOM found themselves in an even deeper hole after losing to Wildcard and  HEROIC, respectively, in the 0-2 matches.

As the two teams with 0-3 records, both Southeast Asian squads were then pit in the Group Stage's first elimination match in Round 4. BOOM soundly swept Nemesis to keep their tournament hopes alive and send their regional rivals packing. With that said, BOOM are not in the clear yet and will need to win one more match to make the Elimination Stage.

As for the rest of the field, the tournament's two other big favourites–Team Spirit and defending champions Team Liquid–stabilised after losing to Xtreme and Tidebound, respectively, in Round 2. Spirit defeated Tundra Esports while Liquid outlasted Nigma Galaxy to improve their records to 2-1 apiece. 

The six teams with 2-1 records so far–namely Spirit, Liquid, Falcons, PARIVISION, Aurora, and BetBoom–will next face off in Day 3 of the Group Stage to get in position to contest the two other direct spots in the Playoffs.

Here are all the results in Day 2 of TI 2025's Group Stage:

Round 3

2-0 matches:

  • Xtreme Gaming 2-1 Team Falcons
  • PARIVISION 0-2 Team Tidebound

1-1 matches:

  • Team Spirit 2-1 Tundra Esports
  • Aurora Gaming 2-0 Yakutou Brothers
  • Team Liquid 2-1 Nigma Galaxy
  • BetBoom Team 2-0 Natus Vincere

0-2 matches:

  • Wildcard 2-0 Team Nemesis
  • HEROIC 2-0 BOOM Esports

Round 4

0-3 elimination match:

  • BOOM Esports 2-0 Team Nemesis

1-2 matches:

  • Tundra Esports 2-1 Natus Vincere
  • Yakutou Brothers 2-1 Nigma Galaxy
  • Wildcard 0-2 HEROIC

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