Team Falcons become the eighth and final team to advance to the Playoffs after taking arguably the most challenging path out of all the teams in the tournament.

Only eight Dota 2 teams remain standing in the battle for the Aegis of Champions in The International (TI) 2025. Western European powerhouse Team Falcons became the final team to advance to the Playoffs after they swept two-time TI champions Team Spirit, 2-0, in the final match of the tournament's Elimination Stage on Monday (8 September).

With their victory, Falcons now join Xtreme Gaming, Team Tidebound, BetBoom Team, HEROIC, Nigma Galaxy, PARIVISION, and Tundra Esports in the Playoffs. Meanwhile, Spirit exit TI 2025 without playing on the main stage alongside defending champions Team Liquid, Wildcard, Aurora Gaming, Yakutou Brothers, Natus Vincere, BOOM Esports, and Team Nemesis. 

Falcons knock Spirit out of TI 2025 to secure their spot in the Playoffs

Falcons had to take arguably the most challenging path to the Playoffs out of all the teams in TI 2025, with many of their games notably going past the 60-minute mark. 

They first defeated Nemesis and Tundra in back-to-back three-game slugfests in the first two rounds of the Swiss-format Group Stage, only to fall to a surging Xtreme Gaming in another three-game bloodbath in Round 3. Falcons then swept Liquid in Round 4 but were forced to the Elimination Stage after suffering another close three-game loss to the tournament's other surging Chinese team in Tidebound.

Matched against Falcons for a spot in the Playoffs were a struggling Spirit squad, who only managed a 2-3 record in the Group Stage. While Spirit defeated Wildcard and Tundra, they also fell to Xtreme Gaming and were bested by regional rivals PARIVISION and Aurora Gaming. But even if Spirit were far from looking like world-beaters in TI 2025, they still proved to be formidable opponents for Falcons. 

In a tournament that has already produced plenty of epic barnburners, game one of the Falcons-Spirit showdown for a Playoff spot is a contender for the best. In a 76-minute rollercoaster, Illya “Yatoro” Mulyarchuk on Nature's Prophet and Magomed “Collapse” Khalilov on Slardar held the line against a relentless onslaught from Falcons headed by Oliver “Skiter” Lepko's Terrorblade, Stanislav “Malr1ne” Potorak's Sand King, and Ammar “ATF” Assaf's Pangolier.

After countless back-and-forth clashes that saw both teams' bases essentially reduced to their Ancients and Tier 4 towers, but with Falcons holding the advantage and confining Spirit in their base. Seeing no other win condition available to his team, Yatoro gambled on destroying Falcons' Ancient through backdoor with his overwhelming damage output courtesy of a Divine Rapier-Divine Regalia combo. 

Yatoro almost single-handedly stole away the win, but a timely use of the Glyph of Fortification from Falcons allowed them to save their Ancient and take down the enemy carry. Spirit then attempted another Hail Mary play not long after, this time with both Yatoro and Collapse sneaking into Falcons' base to snipe their Ancient. However, Falcons were prepared for this gambit this time around and shut it down, with Spirit conceding the game not long after.

After that epic opener to the series, game two was an anticlimactic affair as Falcons dominated from the get-go behind Malr1ne's Sand King and ATF's offlane Monkey King. Despite a valiant attempt by Spirit to mount a comeback, they could do little to stop Falcons from methodically picking them apart in teamfights and eventually knocking them out of TI 2025 after 45 minutes of action.

Malr1ne notably led the way for Falcons in the closeout game with 15 kills and 18 assists on three deaths out of his team's 39-10 kill lead. ATF also added eight kills and 15 assists on four deaths while Skiter on Weaver had a clean eight kills and 11 assists.

With the conclusion of the Elimination Stage, TI 2025 will go on a three-day break before the competition moves to the Barclays Arena for the Playoffs. The Playoffs will take place from 11 to 14 September in front of a live crowd, and still features the series' tried-and-tested double-elimination format. However, instead of having some teams start in the lower bracket as in previous editions, TI 2025's Playoffs will have all eight Playoff-qualified teams start in the upper bracket. 

As with all previous editions of the event, TI 2025's Playoffs will feature best-of-three matches except for the Grand Finals, which will be a full best-of-five series for the coveted Aegis of Champions.

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.

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