ESL One Birmingham Team Analysis and Predictions

ESL One Birmingham will bring together 12 formidable Dota 2 teams. All of them have at least a slight chance of winning the tournament, but some of them are simply much stronger than others.

Here’s a brief analysis of each participant and their expected result.

Xtreme Gaming

Xtreme Gaming have some of the best players in China, including the best carry. Ame is in great shape right now and he wants to win trophies. At the most recent event, Elite League, his team defeated Team Falcons in the Grand Final against all odds. The score was 3 – 1.

So far, Ame has made around $4 million just from tournaments alone but he has not yet won The International. Twice he played in the Grand Final while competing for PSG.LGD. Two more times he finished 3^rd and 4^th. But the Aegis of Champions eluded him.

This year, it seems that Xtreme Gaming might be strong enough to finally win the greatest event in Dota 2. Another tournament worth winning is Riyadh Masters, which last year was even more prestigious than The International thanks to its $15 million prize pool.

At ESL One Birmingham, Xtreme Gaming will be one of the top contenders. Based on what we’ve seen from them in recent months, they should easily finish the tournament in the top three.

Team Falcons

2nd place.

GG, @xtremegamingcn! #FalconsAreHere pic.twitter.com/vlCzNAqBAx

— Falcons Esports (@FalconsEsport) April 14, 2024

Team Falcons started the 2024 season with victories at BetBoom Dacha Dubai and DreamLeague S22. At Elite League, they finished 2^nd. This is a team that features former TI champions and former Major champions.

The coach, Aui_2000, won The International both as a player and as a coach, making him the only person in the history of the game to achieve this performance.

The least experienced player on Falcons is the midlaner, Malr1ne. But at just 17 years old, he’s already a 13.000 MMR competitor whose performance in pubs rivals that of the greatest pub stars who ever played the game. And here I’m including Miracle- and SumaiL.

The other four players are skiter (former TI champion with Tundra in 2022), ATF (one of the best offlaners in the world in the last three years), Cr1t- (former Major champion and 3^rd place at TI8), and Sneyking (former TI champion with Tundra in 2022).

When you have such a formidable team, great results are not surprising at all. Among the 12 participants in ESL One Birmingham, Team Falcons is clearly a top candidate to win the trophy.

Team Liquid

Liquid finished 2^nd at BetBoom Dacha Dubai this year and are currently competing with a roster that’s almost identical to the one that finished 5^th – 6^th at The International 2023. One of the world’s most formidable offlaners, zai, is no longer with the team. But his replacement, 33, is almost as good as he was.

Another player who is part of Liquid’s roster is Nisha. And he is arguably the best midlaner in the world at the moment. At BetBoom Dacha Dubai, he won the 1v1 competition, which clearly demonstrates that his individual skill is exceptional. However, Dota being a team game, you cannot win every time just because you know how to win your lane.

At ESL One Birmingham, Team Liquid are expected to finish in the top six.

Gaimin Gladiators

2nd place.

GG, @xtremegamingcn! #FalconsAreHere pic.twitter.com/vlCzNAqBAx

— Falcons Esports (@FalconsEsport) April 14, 2024

Gaimin Gladiators dominated the first half of 2023, but now they’re no longer the best team in the world. That doesn’t mean, however, that they cannot win a big trophy.

This year, they finished 5^th – 6^th at BetBoom Dacha Dubai, 5^th at DreamLeague S22, and then 5^th – 6^th again at Elite League.

Gladiators have the potential to return to their top form but only if they improve their understanding of the current meta. Another thing that would allow them to become a top three team again would be a new patch.

It is rumored that Dota 2 patch 7.36 is right around the corner, but it’s unlikely that it will be released until April 22. Most likely, it will be released after the end of ESL One Birmingham.

BetBoom Team

BetBoom Team played really well at the first two Dota 2 tournaments of 2024, finishing 3^rd at BetBoom Dacha Dubai and 2^nd at DreamLeague S22. At Elite League, they were 11^th – 12^th after a disappointing performance. But overall, this team clearly has the potential to be one of the best.

The roster consists of players like Nightfall, gpk, and TORONOTOTOKYO, whose career results show that they are very strong competitors. In the case of TORONOTOTOKYO, he is a former TI champion with Team Spirit. The other two finished 5^th – 6^th at two editions of The International in the last three years.

BetBoom have little chance of winning ESL One Birmingham, but they could easily finish in the top four.

Tundra Esports

Despite losing their best players after The International 2023, as well as MinD_ContRoL several months ago because of a disagreement between the player and the club, Tundra Esports continues to be one of the big names in Dota 2.

Their team includes Pure~ and Topson, two of the best players in the world at their respective roles. Pure~ is a 13.000 MMR player while Topson is a two-time TI champion with OG. The organization also has zai in a managerial position, and his prowess is well-known.

In the first four months of 2024, Tundra didn’t win anything important but they did qualify for a lot of important events by winning regional qualifiers. Thanks to those wins, they will compete in ESL One Birmingham and PGL Wallachia Season 1. They also played in DreamLeague S22, where they finished 9^th – 10^th, and Elite League, where they were 7^th – 8^th.

Tundra are expected to finish the tournament in the top eight.

OG

Our DLS22 run ends today as we finish Top 6.
Super proud of our improvement, we’ll be back 🫡

Thank you all for your support ❤️#RoadToRiyadh pic.twitter.com/eHzjNgtuWU

— OG (@OGesports) March 7, 2024

After losing Yuragi back in February, OG have not been the same. They tried to play with Timado as their carry at Elite League but finished 9^th – 10^th. Right now, they still don’t have a stable carry to rely on. They might decide to keep Timado, but only if he proves that he can help them obtain top results.

In 2024, OG finished 9^th – 12^th at BetBoom Dacha Dubai, 6^th at DreamLeague S22, and 9^th – 10^th at Elite League. They failed to qualify for PGL Wallachia and DreamLeague S23, which clearly indicates that their current roster isn’t even strong enough to compete with regional teams, let alone the likes of Falcons and Xtreme.

At ESL One Birmingham, OG are not expected to do very well. They will most likely be eliminated in the group stage.

Team Spirit

Team Spirit has a roster that looks great on paper. But when you look at their recent results, it’s obvious that something is not working. This team either misread the current meta or no longer has the same desire to win as before.

Of course, we don’t know what each individual player is doing these days, but it wouldn’t be surprising to find out that they’re enjoying life a lot more than before, which means they’re spending less time playing Dota.

Let’s not forget that the roster won The International twice, as well as Riyadh Masters last year. Everyone’s a millionaire and the team as a whole won more than $27 million just from tournaments alone. They could still make a comeback but right now it’s hard to be optimistic about their chances. Like Gladiators, Spirit desperately need a new major patch.

G2.iG

G2.iG proved to be strong enough to win two qualifiers in the Chinese region: the one for this event and the one for PGL Wallachia Season 1. At Elite League they finished 7^th – 8^th, which was not bad at all considering that the tournament had 24 teams in the race. A top eight result means they qualified for the playoffs.

G2.iG have players like Monet and xNova, who understand what it means to play at the highest level because they both finished The International in the top four several times.

G2.iG will likely obtain a top eight result at ESL One Birmingham. It’s hard to be too optimistic about their chances of winning the tournament, but a top eight finish should be perfectly achievable.

Talon Esports

Talon Esports lack formidable players and they also lack good results in 2024. At Elite League, they finished 17^th – 19^th. Based on this data, we can easily conclude that they will most likely be eliminated in the group stage of ESL One Birmingham.

Shopify Rebellion

After the departure of Fly, this team was left without its main strategist. However, that doesn’t mean it cannot think for itself. In the qualifiers for DreamLeague S22, ESL One Birmingham, and DreamLeague S23, Shopify Rebellion encountered nouns, Fly’s new Dota 2 team, in the Grand Final. And each time, they won 3 – 2.

At DreamLeague S22, Arteezy and his crew finished 7^th and did not lose a single match in their group. This is an indication that they’re quite strong and should not be underestimated at this upcoming Dota 2 event.

HEROIC

WE FINALLY WON A GAME🥳🪅🎉🪅🥳 pic.twitter.com/KtaocaLZSm

— HEROIC Dota 2 (@heroicdota2) April 10, 2024

Despite lacking famous players of the highest caliber, HEROIC have some of the best players in South America. K1 and Scofield finished in the top eight at several editions of The International, so they know very well how to compete against the world’s best teams.

The only problem is that their teammates are far less experienced and accomplished, and Dota 2 is a team game. In 2024, HEROIC, qualified for a lot of important tournaments but so far, they finished 13^th – 14^th at DreamLeague S22 and 15^th – 16^th at Elite League. These results suggest that they will likely be eliminated in the group stage of ESL One Birmingham.

Header: ESL