TEAM SPIRIT WINS ESPORTS WORLD CUP 2025

I remember when I couldn’t stand Team Spirit. They won during the pandemic, and what annoyed me the most was how they did it—Collapse kept using Magnus. Actually, he spammed Magnus, and their run to The International felt like a passing of the torch. They took down giants like OG, Virtus Pro, Invictus Gaming, Team Secret, and PSG.LGD on their way to the title.

Since then, they’ve gone on to win another TI and are now one of the defining teams in DOTA 2. Yatoro, Miposhka, and Collapse are already considered elite, with Larl and Rue rounding out their current lineup. For the 2025 Esports World Cup, I found myself rooting for either Team Spirit or Tundra Esports. And while I’m a big fan of Whitemon, I was honestly happy to see Team Spirit take the win.

There’s another reason I enjoyed their victory so much. I’ve never attended a live esports event. I like watching from the comfort of my screen. Without friends around and with ticket prices being insane, I’d rather stay home and enjoy it on my laptop. As much as I appreciated how well the Saudis organized the multi-game event, I really didn’t like the crowd supporting Team Falcons in the arena.

I know people have different ways of watching DOTA 2, but the game is filled with intricacies. Just by looking at a player's frame, you can already tell how their item builds differ from their opponents and how their execution stacks up. Team Falcons, for example, are known for stacking creeps. But instead of asking why they struggled to control the map, their fans were just shouting nonstop, like they were blindly cheering without really understanding what was happening or why their team needed support at that moment.

Cheering for your team is normal, but something about that Falcons fan section felt off. It just felt too rehearsed. When I watch DOTA, I focus on the game first, and only after a big play do I check the comments. But during the matches against Team Liquid and Tundra Esports, their fans were screaming like it was a football game. On the other side of the arena, people were quietly watching and reacting to team fights without being disruptive.

Yes, there’s a home crowd advantage. The Saudis were clearly behind Team Falcons. But there’s a difference between hyping up the atmosphere and becoming a distraction. That’s why I loved Team Spirit’s 3-0 sweep in the finals. With the Falcons crowd hyping everything up, Team Spirit’s performance shut them down completely. You could see that Team Falcons were falling apart mentally.

AMMAR THE F, who had swagger throughout the tournament, couldn’t find his rhythm in the finals. Cr1t- and Sneyking also had quiet games. Skiter tried to carry the load, but he ended up stretching himself too thin. Malr1ne, who had been playing great DOTA leading into the finals, completely disappeared. I’ve never seen his Primal Beast get neutralized like that. Team Spirit read him like a book.

And let me just say this about Team Spirit. Since 2021, they’ve been a joy to watch. Their chemistry, discipline under pressure, and ability to stick to their strategy have made them a force. Even when Team Falcons tried to throw them off their game, Yatoro just kept farming. By the time he started joining team fights, he was too farmed to deal with.

The support from Rue and Miposhka was massive. They controlled the vision game, constantly warding and spotting where ambushes were being set up. In team fights, they stayed composed and punished the heroes that Team Falcons couldn’t make work. Larl dominated midlane, turning Malr1ne’s performance into his worst series of the tournament. Yatoro finished with over 33.1K in damage. Skiter, despite topping his team in gold earned, ended the series with only eight kills—tied with Rue and Miposhka.

Team Spirit had more kills, more net worth, more total damage, and clearly outclassed Falcons in every phase of the game. And if this is a sign of what’s coming, they could very well become the first team to win The International three times.

THREE-GAME AVERAGES

TEAM SPIRIT	ROLE	K	D	A	NET	DMG	GPM
YATORO	CAR	9.3	1.0	14.7	32.4	33.1	836.7
LARL	MID	7.7	0.7	15.3	23.3	20.6	607.0
COLLAPSE	OFF	9.0	1.0	14.3	25.0	17.0	649.0
RUE	SUP	2.7	4.3	15.7	13.6	10.6	350.3
MIPOSHKA	SUP	2.7	5.3	17.0	12.5	8.3	322.7
TEAM FALCONS	ROLE	K	D	A	NET	DMG	GPM
SKITER	CAR	2.7	4.3	4.0	22.8	12.2	584.0
MALR1NE	MID	2.3	5.7	4.7	18.7	16.2	483.7
ATF	OFF	5.3	7.0	3.0	19.4	18.4	501.0
Cr1t-	SUP	0.7	8.0	4.3	9.1	6.7	235.0
SNEYKING	SUP	1.0	7.0	6.3	12.5	10.4	325.0