It’s yet another DreamLeague tournament, this time, it’s already DreamLeague Season 25. ESL has been consistently dishing out these phenomenal events with world-class teams, so Dota 2 fans can enjoy from February 16 to March 2.
DreamLeague S25 (Image credit: ESL)
As usual, tune into ESL’s official Twitch channel, where the live broadcasts will be available.
DreamLeague S25 has recently adopted an unconventional tournament format, which takes longer. Nevertheless, it’s fair and gives each team enough spotlight to showcase their performance. Group stage 1 consists of two single round-robin groups of eight teams, where each series is best-of-two. Top four teams advance to a second group stage, while the rest are eliminated.
In group stage 2, the remaining eight teams will compete in only one single round-robin group stage, where matches are best-of-three. The top two teams advance to the Playoffs’ upper bracket, while the third and fourth-place teams still advance to lower bracket (remaining teams are eliminated).
With the top six teams remaining, Playoffs spot a double-elimination bracket, where matches are best-of-three, except the best-of-five grand final.
Sixteen teams comprising of top teams on the EPT Leaderboard and regional qualifiers will participate in DreamLeague S25. The top four teams on the latest EPT Leaderboard are PARIVISION, BetBoom Team, Team Falcons and Team Liquid .
However, it would be wise to keep an eye on the regional qualified teams as well, especially Tundra Esports, which recently won FISSURE PLAYGROUND #1. Following closely are AVULUS, Team Spirit, Gaimin Gladiators, Team Spirit, 9Pandas, Chimera Esports, Yakult Brothers, Xtreme Gaming, Aurora Gaming, BOOM Esports, Shopify Rebellion , and HEROIC .
Participating Dota 2 Teams at DreamLeague S25 (Image credit: ESL)
The Dota 2 Esports scene has been very competitive recently, with Western European powerhouses giving each other a run for their money.
One candidate is the FISSURE PLAYGROUND #1 Champions , Tundra Esports. They pulled off a comeback versus Team Falcons at a 0-2 deficit, which cemented themselves as one of the best Dota 2 teams in 2025.
Of course, Team Falcons were no pushovers themselves, having secured two tournament defeats at DreamLeague S24 and BetBoom Dacha Belgrade 2024.
BetBoom Team and PARIVISION also pulled off their own insult at BLAST Slam 1 and ESL One Bangkok 2024 respectively.
Another interesting team is HEROIC, which won PGL Wallachia S2 against Team Falcons. However, after releasing David ” Parker ” Nicho Flores for ‘toxicity’ towards his teammates, HEROIC hasn’t felt the same.
Sure, they managed to qualify for DreamLeague S25, but there are still work needed to reshape HEROIC to its former glory.
Despite their poor performance, Gaimin Gladiators, Team Spirit and AVULUS are still decent teams heading into DreamLeague Season 25. Especially when comparing these European powerhouses to the likes of Chinese and Southeast Asian teams that have been underwhelming this whole season.
Especially, Gaimin with their new hard carry player, Alimzhan ” watson ” Islambekov, still has a lot to prove, especially against their former teammate, Anton ” dyrachyo ” Shkredov, at Tundra Esports. And, Dota 2 fans love a good beef , so a rematch between these two teams would be exciting.
All in all, the DreamLeague S25 marks all the prerequisites for a phenomenal tournament. High-stake prize pool, world-class teams and of course, the best production quality. We wouldn’t need to wait too long before DreamLeague S25 kicks off very soon, so stay tuned.
