Xtreme Gaming advance to The International 2025 playoffs undefeated

After two days of matches in the Swiss group stage system, the Chinese region pulled the biggest surprise at The International 2025 with two teams leading the pack.

Xtreme Gaming and Tidebound are the unexpected forces at TI 2025 so far, entering Round 3 in the Swiss group stage format with a clean 3-0 series score. Both had already defeated the top competitors at the title, Xtreme taking down Falcons, Team Spirit, and Aurora, while Tidebound cut through Team Liquid and PARIVISION.

However, in the Swiss system, there can only be one team to end the group stage with a clean 4-0 score, and that inevitably led to Xtreme and Tidebound having to fight against each other for a straight spot to the playoffs stage.

Dubbed as the “uncrowned prince” by the Dota 2 fans, Wang "Ame" Chunyu has been chasing the Aegis for over seven years now. He reached the grand finals twice and placed top four a couple of times in his career. At the same time, Tidebound’s Zhang "Faith_bian" Ruida is a TI champion, having made one of the most memorable runs in 2016 with Wings Gaming.

However, for now, it’s Ame and Xtreme Gaming who take the limelight as Xtreme Gaming emerged as the only undefeated team in the Swiss format and became the first to secure a playoffs spot. They hit the 4-0 score at the end of an explosive series against their regional foes, Tidebound.

Xtreme opened the series with an Anti-Mage tempo draft that relied on initiation power, provided by XinQ on Clockwerk, and team fight superiority, secured with an offlane Undying and mid Leshrack. They played extremely aggressive from the early stage, with XinQ having a huge impact from the laning stage, which allowed his team to snowball. Game two was more balanced, and went on for little over an hour, as both teams locked in beefy cores that would allow them to play for prolonged team fights. However, It was once again Xtreme to reign supreme, with Ame on an invincible Sven.

CN Dota bounces back at TI 2025

It’s been a minute since CN Dota impressed on the international stage. The last time the region had a team in a TI grand finals was in 2021 when PSG.LG were bested 2-3 by Team Spirit. Following that heartfelt defeat, CN Dota went spiralling down. Ame and Faith_bian played competitively on and off, both toying with the retirement idea, while the scene is still dealing with a lack of young talent to the present day. Read also: Xtreme Gaming TI 2025 team profile - friends in need are friends indeed

It was up to the “old guard” to figure out a way to power through lack of sponsorship and lack of opportunities after the Dota Pro Circuit was discontinued by Valve in 2023. Nearly a decade since Wings claimed the last Aegis of Champions for China, Faith_bian and his teammate from back then, Zhang "y`" Yiping, are reunited and together they are ready to challenge the best and the youngest in the professional scene. They will have another shot at joining Xtreme in the playoffs later today, September 6, when they will be pitted against Team Falcons.