After losing to Team Tidebound in the Group Stage, Team Falcons got their revenge in the Playoffs to make the Top 6.

The action is heating up in the opening day of The International (TI) 2025 Playoffs as Western Europe's Team Falcons soundly swept China's Team Tidebound, 2-0, in the third upper bracket quarterfinals of the day to advance to the upper bracket semifinals.

Both Falcons and Tidebound were among the eight directly-invited teams to TI 2025, though the former entered the tournament with more momentum on their side. In their last tournament appearance before TI at FISSURE Universe: Episode 6 in August, Falcons claimed the championship while Tidebound only managed a 7th-8th place finish.

With that said, the two squads enjoyed strong starts in TI 2025's Swiss-format Group Stage, earning 3-1 records through the first four rounds. Tidebound defeated Natus Vincere, defending champions Team Liquid, and PARIVISION while Falcons emerged victorious over Team Nemesis, Tundra Esports, and Liquid. Both Tidebound and Falcons notably suffered their first loss of the tournament to Group Stage top seed Xtreme Gaming. 

That then set up the first showdown of the tournament between Falcons and Tidebound in Round 5 of the Group Stage, with the winners avoiding the treacherous Elimination Stage and heading straight to the Playoffs. It was a hard-fought series, with two games going past 70 minutes, but Tidebound pulled off a 2-1 reverse sweep to advance to the main stage.

Falcons secured their spot in the Playoffs by overcoming two-time TI champions Team Spirit in the Elimination Stage, setting up a rematch with Tidebound in the upper bracket quarterfinals. 

Team Falcons sweep Team Tidebound to advance to upper bracket semifinals

In stark contrast to their previous meeting, Falcons entered the series with visibly more momentum and confidence. They drafted a heavy teamfight lineup to open the match, headlined by a strong core trio of Gyrocopter for Oliver “Skiter” Lepko, Beastmaster for Stanislav “Malr1ne” Potorak, and a signature Mars pick for Ammar “ATF” Assaf. Andreas “Cr1t-” Nielsen on Snapfire provided long-range support while Jing “Sneyking” Wu on Pugna was tasked with sustaining his allies.

Meanwhile, Tidebound opted for a lineup skewed more towards burst damage anchored by Xuanang “Shiro” Guo's Marci, Cheng “NothingToSay” Jin Xiang's Earthshaker, and Zhang “Bach” Ruida's Timbersaw. Hao “plAnet” Lin on Muerta and Yiping “y`” Zhang on Disruptor provided crowd control from the backlines.

Game one kicked off with both teams on relatively even footing, with the laning stage featuring multiple trades across all lanes. However, Falcons had the better of those exchanges. In the crucial mid game teamfights, Falcons managed to burst down Shiro first in back-to-back clashes to take full control. From there, it was a simple matter for Falcons to bulldoze through Tidebound's defenses and force the GG call after 47 minutes of action.

Game two then saw both teams run similar strategies. Falcons went with Abaddon for Skiter, Sand King for Malr1ne, Bristleback for ATF, Hoodwink for Cr1t, and Naga Siren for Sneyking. Meanwhile, Tidebound opted to pick Shadow Fiend for Shiro, Puck for NothingToSay, Centaur Warrunner for Bach, a support Nature's Prophet for planet, and Disruptor again for y`.

Falcons set a much faster pace in game two, with Malr1ne and Cr1t notably securing back-to-back ganks on Shiro that heavily shut down Tidebound's carry. With Tidebound lacking the firepower to take on Falcons in straight-up fights, they attempted to split the map and stall things out, only to fall victim to more ganks. Falcons then proceeded to choke out Tidebound until the Chinese team ultimately conceded the series after 44 minutes. Falcons notably closed out the series up 22-5 in kills, notably preventing their opponents from getting a single kill in the last 26 minutes of the match.

With their victory, Falcons 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 Nigma Galaxy and BetBoom Team. Meanwhile, Tidebound drop down to the first round of the lower bracket, where they will have to stave off elimination the rest of the way.

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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