The crowning moment for Team Falcons as world champions in Dota 2. Photo from Dota 2/Facebook
Team Falcons emerged as Dota 2's world champions after they outlasted Xtreme Gaming in five grueling matches, 3-2, at The International 2025 Grand Final on early Monday morning (Manila time).
China's Wang "Ame" Chunyu, dubbed by the Dota global community as the "Uncrowned King," was once again denied the Aegis of Champions, having lost the TI final for the third time—all against a Magnus lineup in the deciding game.
Down 1-2, Falcons showed patience, grit, and stability during Game 4, banking on captain Ammar "ATF" Al-Assaf's Ursa pick that shocked the Chinese side, as well as Stanislav "Malr1ne" Potorak's Sand King that eventually went clean with a 7-0-4 performance.
Falcons silenced Ame's Sven that ripped them apart just a game before that with an 11-0-3 performance.
During the final match, Falcons came through, with Oliver "skiter" Lepko paving the way on an overfarmed Medusa, ATF securing the Skewer plays on the Magnus, and Jingjun "Sneyking" Wu finding the saves on his Naga Siren's Song of the Siren.
The Saudi Arabian squad took a critical clash at the 38-minute mark, as they killed Ame's Juggernaut without buyback. With the carry out for 95 seconds, Falcons pushed two towers and one lane of barracks, and it all went downhill for Xtreme since then.
XG's Yap "xNova" Jian Wei was heavily shut down during the entire match and could not work wonders on the Pugna pick that was supposed to save the cores in skirmishes.
Falcons eventually found the final push during the 58th minute as they took down three of XG's heroes without buyback, forcing the "good games" out of the Chinese crew.
"This is just the beginning," said ATF, who was the first to lift the Aegis during the ceremony.
Skiter, now a two-time world champion in the esport, dedicated this triumph to his teammate, Andreas "Cr1t-" Nielsen, a veteran support player who had been in nine The International events.
This time, it was finally Cr1t-'s crowning moment.
"I'm just so happy that I was part of the squad that helped Cr1t- win TI after he tried for so many years," said the Falcons' carry.
READ: Dota 2: SEA teams out of TI 2025 as Boom Esports gets eliminated by Wildcard
Falcons took home the lion's share of the prize pool, garnering more than a million dollars in cash reward.
TI 2025 was a tournament joined by eight Filipino players, but they exited during the group stage.
The Philippine flag was bannered by a five-man Pinoy squad, Team Nemesis, composed of Erice "Erice" Guerra, Polo "Raven" Fausto, Eljohn "Akashi" Andales, John "Jing" Duyan, and Mc "Mac" Villanueva.
READ: Dota 2: Boom Esports ousts Team Nemesis in all-SEA match at TI 2025
Southeast Asian pack Boom Esports was there, the home of Armel "Armel" Tabios, Timothy "Tims" Randrup, and Jaunuel "Jaunuel" Arcilla.