Dota 2’s most dominant pro team this year falls short at TI—as is tradition

Welcome to another year of competitive Dota 2, where this season’s most dominant team with millions of prize money won and numerous top-tier finals fails to lift the Aegis of Champions. This time it’s Team Falcons, who were bundled out of The International by Tundra 2-0 in the lower bracket.

Both games played out similarly with Tundra winning critical teamfights in the 20th minute and building an advantage, wrapping both matches before the hour mark set in. Team Falcons’ elimination is an especially ironic one as it comes at the hands of Tundra—the organization that hosted the Falcons’ core of Skiter and Sneyking before their acquisition late last year.

Since then, it’s been all green-and-white with the Saudi-backed squad utterly dominating the Dota 2 space. Team Falcons stood on the top step of four tier-one LANs this year including wins at ESL One Birmingham and BetBoom Dacha Dubai, as well as back-to-back DreamLeague titles in March and May. Therefore, it was obvious who this year’s favorites would be for the Aegis—even with last year’s champs Team Spirit in attendance.

It wasn’t to be for either squad. Spirit met their end at the hands of Ame and China’s last hope Xtreme Gaming after a shock loss to Nouns in the Seeding Decider, while Falcons were made to work for their TI lives after going down to Tundra in the upper bracket last week. Work they did; Falcons blew through 1win, BetBoom, and Cloud9 before a Tundra rematch, but just like they did on Sept. 8, Tundra held strong and sent the favorites packing.

Falcons join a long list of Dota 2 teams that entered the big show as top dogs only to fall painfully short of the title. Last year it was Gaimin Gladiators, who posted arguably the greatest single-year list of results in the MOBA’s history only to finish second to Spirit when it mattered most. Other teams over the years include OG (although they did make it back two years in a row), PSG.LGD, Evil Geniuses, and Team Secret to name a few.

It’s tough to say whether the defeat will trigger a roster change, but the team won’t have long to decide as the annual post-TI roster mania period is much shorter in 2024 thanks to a slew of tier-one events to close out the year: PGL Wallachia kicks off Oct. 4, with BetBoom Dacha, DreamLeague Season 24, and ESL One Bangkok following close behind.

As for three-time TI hopeful Topson and Tundra, their march wraps up one way or another later today as they take on Gaimin in the lower bracket final. For the winner, Team Liquid awaits in a best-of-five that is sure to light up the Danish crowd.