Team Spirit wins the battle of the previous champions at the Esports World Cup

A battle of the previous champions of the Riyadh Masters kicked off the Esports World Cup Playoffs, with Team Spirit taking on Gaimin Gladiators.

After a few days' break, the Esports World Cup was back for Dota 2, with eight teams remaining and the playoffs on the way. As a single-elimination playoff stage, the teams would have only one life in their best-of-three series to make it through into the next round. Champions of the Riyadh Masters 2023, Team Spirit, were set to face the champions of the 2024 iteration, Gaimin Gladiators, in the first series of the playoffs.

With both teams having tasted glory at previous iterations of the event, only one would move on today and enter the top 4 of the EWC.

Team Spirit survives the quarterfinals at the EWC

While GG had to survive the elimination phase, taking down Team Yandex, Spirit had a lot longer since their previous game. However, game one proved exactly why Spirit is considered one of the strongest teams currently in Dota 2. At one point during the game, GG had an advantage of nearly 30,000 in net worth. Between Alimzhan “watson” Islambekov’s carry Marci, and Marcus “Ace” Hoelgaard’s Axe, GG were dominating, and it seemed to be their game in the bag.

But it turned out not to be the case, as one simple mistake opened the door for Spirit. With a massive swing and the game extending into Tier 5 Neutral Items, Spirit slammed GG into the ground and secured the first win. After that, game two felt completely one-sided, as Spirit found their footing and quickly had GG on the ropes.

As GG threw in the towel, their hopes of defending their title crumbled away. With that, Spirit cruises on through to the EWC 2025 semi-finals, one step closer to claiming another win for the year. Unfortunately for GG, everything ends here, as they now turn their major attention to The International 2025.

With more eliminations on the way, Spirit will now get a break once again, as they await their next challenger. However, one more team will be eliminated today in the quarterfinals, as Aurora Gaming goes up against PARIVISION.