Xtreme Gaming have now won all five matches they have played so far in The International 2025.

The final battle for this year's Aegis of Champions has finally begun. Chinese Dota 2 powerhouse Xtreme Gaming scored the first victory of The International (TI) 2025 Playoffs in Hamburg's Barclays Arena with a 2-0 sweep over TI 2022 champions Tundra Esports in the upper bracket quarterfinals on Thursday (11 September).

Xtreme were not among the biggest contenders heading into TI 2025. Having languished under the shadow of Team Tidebound for most of the year, they had to earn their spot in the tournament through the Chinese regional qualifier in March. Not only that, they were unable to compete with their original roster after Wilson “poloson” Koh Chin was sidelined in order to recover from health issues in July. Xtreme tapped decorated 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 start to the year. They won FISSURE Playground 1 and BLAST Slam II in February, finished second in DreamLeague Season 25 and PGL Wallachia Season 3 in March, and won again in BLAST Slam III in May. However, Tundra also could not compete in TI 2025 with their full roster after Matthew “Whitemon” Filemon encountered visa issues. Tobias “Tobi” Buchner was then selected as Tundra's last-minute stand-in.

But once TI 2025 kicked off, Xtreme quickly cemented themselves as the biggest contenders for the Aegis of Champions by cruising through the Group Stage as the only team 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 become the first team to advance to the Playoffs.

Tundra, on the other hand, were visibly affected by having to play with a last-minute stand-in. They only managed a 2-3 record, with wins over Yakutou Brothers and Natus Vincere against losses to Falcons, Spirit, and HEROIC. Despite a shaky start in then Group Stage, Tundra bounced back just in time for the Elimination Stage and knocked out defending champions Team Liquid to earn their spot in the Playoffs.

Xtreme Gaming sweep Tundra Esports to kick off TI 2025 Playoffs

The first match of the Playoffs opened with Tundra running a bold strategy focused on winning the laning stage and snowballing into a strong mid game push before Xtreme's lineup came online. Remco “Crystallis” Arets on Juggernaut, Bozhidar “bzm” Bogdanov on Storm Spirit, and Neta “33” Shapira on Lycan would lead the charge, while Martin “Saksa” Sazdov on Shadow Demon and Tobi on Warlock provided saves and crowd control from the backlines.

Xtreme ran one of their signature drafts with strong scaling cores to take over in the late game, where they have excelled all tournament long. Wang “Ame” Chunyu led the way on Troll Warlord while Hongcheng “Xm” Guo on Pangolier and Jing “Xxs” Lin on Beastmaster provided strong teamfight abilities. Zixing “XinQ” Zhao on a support Tiny and xNova on Winter Wyvern would disrupt the enemy formation, with xNova also having the team's primary save ability.

Game one had a slow start, which played into Tundra's hands as they handily won the lanes and farmed freely to hit their mid game timing. Xtreme managed to slow down their opponents' momentum by sneaking the first Roshan of the game and winning the ensuing fight, Tundra still took over by scoring a teamwipe in the first big clash of the game at the 26-minute mark.

Tundra then leveraged their advantage by pushing up Xtreme's high ground on the middle lane and claim a ranged barracks, but the Chinese squad put on a masterful defense to turn the tables. With Tundra's momentum halted just as their lineup started peaking, Xtreme methodically picked apart their opponents and eventually claimed the opening game of the series after 55 minutes of action.

Game two then saw Xtreme flex their muscles as they gave Ame the rarely-picked Clinkz to headline a strong burst damage lineup. Rounding out the rest of the team were Xm's Queen of Pain, Xxs' Slardar, XinQ's Hoodwink, and xNova's Warlock. Tundra looked to match their opponents with a strong 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 were able to score some early kills, Xtreme held the lead from the get-go and never looked back. The Chinese squad made good use of their heroes' massive damage output to win skirmishes and hamper their opponents' progression. While Tundra showed signs of life by scoring a teamwipe around the 20-minute mark, Xtreme looked nigh-unstoppable as they closed out the 2-0 series sweep in a 45-minute rout.

With their victory, Xtreme advance to the upper bracket semifinals and have guaranteed themselves at least a Top 6 finish as well as just under US$130,000 in winnings. They will next face the winner of the second upper bracket quarterfinal match between PARIVISION and HEROIC. Meanwhile, Tundra drop down to the first round of the lower bracket, where they will have to fight for their tournament lives.

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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