Week 2 of the Esports World Cup was action-packed. In the DOTA 2 tournament, Team Spirit prevailed in a commanding fashion. Team Vitality was victorious in the MLBB Women’s tournament. EVOS Esports gave us a drama-filled Free Fire Tournament, eventually emerging as the victor. And Gen.G Esports gave us a thrilling Grand Final in their League of Legends esports World Cup win.
DOTA 2
Team Spirit started the tournament off a bit shaky in Phase 1. In their first match, Xtreme Gaming and Team Spirit tied, putting them in the middle of the pack. However, in their next two matchups vs Talon and Natus Vincere, Team Spirit found their footing to win both sets of games, rising to the top of their group. This allowed Team Spirit to skip Phase 2 and move straight into the Playoff Stage. The first two rounds of the Playoffs were the same story for Team Spirit as they swept both Gaimin Gladiators and Parivision to advance to the Grand Final in a deadly groove. In the final, Team Spirit faced off against a Team Flacons squad who had clawed back from the edge of elimination. After tying two games and losing a third in the first phase of the tournament, Team Falcons would not lose a single game in either Phase 2 or in the Playoffs on their way to the Grand Final. However, Team Flacons’ Cinderella story stopped one round short as Team Spirit made quick work of them, winning in a decisive sweep to take the DOTA 2 Esports World Cup crown.
Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Women’s Tournament
Team Vitality came out of the gates red hot in the Group Stage. In both rounds, they made relatively quick work of their opponents to advance to the Playoff Stage, going undefeated in the first phase of the tournament. The quarterfinals were more of the same for Team Vitality as they dispatched FUT Esports easily to move onto the semi-finals against Team Liquid. Despite the new opponent, Team Vitality kept rolling, sweeping Team Liquid in a 3-0 route on their way to the Grand Final. This Grand Final showcased a Gamin Gladiators team that had been tested throughout the rounds of this tournament, losing multiple games but never a round. Yet these trials would prove not to have fixed the flaws within Gamin Gladiators, as after a tightly contested first game, Team Vitality took control and ran over the Gamin Gladiators in a 4-0 finish to claim the Women’s MLBB World Cup title.
Free Fire
EVOS Esports had a great start to the Knockout Stage, placing second in the first match in the A and B Group round. This hot start would continue as EVOS, after placing fourth in the second match, would win back-to-back matches. Due to the early dominance, it allowed EVOS to take their foot off the gas in the latter two matches and still place second in the A-B Group round. The B-C Group round proved to be more challenging for EVOS Esports as they would not place higher than fourth for any of the six games. This led to EVOS Esports only placing 6th in the B-C Group round. However, their dominance in the A-B Group round allowed them to advance past the point rush stage and straight to the Final.
In the first two matches of the Final, EVOS Esports had a solid showing, finishing in the back half of the top five with a 5th-place and 4th-place finish. Then, in game three, EVOS was able to recapture some of their early tournament magic and take first place. Yet, in the next four matches, EVOS Esports would only place inside the top five once. But that would change in game eight, where EVOS would finish 3rd, nearly capturing the Free Fire crown. This all-out effort led to a slip in game nine, almost losing them the trophy. However, in game 10, EVOS was able to fight off Team Vitality and get their second win of the Final Stage, securing themselves the Esports World Cup Free Fire championship.
League of Legends
Gen.G Esports were so dominant during the qualifying matches for the World Cup that they were able to bypass the Group Stage and advance straight to the Quarter Finals. They displayed this dominance immediately, sweeping Fly Quest. In the semi-finals, G2 Esports gave Gen.G more of a challenge, evening the series at one a piece after dropping the first game. However, a dominant third game allowed Gen.G to advance to the Grand Final. In the Grand Final, Gen.G faced off against another one of the teams that received an automatic Playoff Stage bid in AG.AL. This battle of heavyweights did not disappoint. Gen.G jumped out to a commanding 2-0 lead over AG.AL; however, AG.AL stormed back, winning back-to-back games and stealing the momentum heading into the deciding game. But, with the title on the line, Gen.G’s clutch factor kicked in, and they were able to emerge victorious, claiming the 2025 League of Legends Esports World Cup championship.
After dominance was displayed in week two of the Esports World Cup, the overall standings have seen some movement. At the top, the leader is still Team Vitality with 2200. Second and third place flipped places with Gen.G Esports now in second and Team Falcons now trailing in third. Our only new addition to the top five, AG.AL, jumped up 15 spots to fourth place with 1150. Finally, there is no set fifth team; instead, six teams are currently in a deadlock for that final spot top five spot. To check out the events for next week, go to the Esports World Cup website, and for recaps of each week's action, come back to the Sporting Tribune.