Team Falcons Lose the Elite League Grand Final

What a stunning result! Team Falcons, the winners of BetBoom Dacha Dubai and DreamLeague S22, somehow lost the Grand Final of Elite League against Xtreme Gaming.

The Chinese team was regarded as one of the best competitors in the race, having world-class players like Ame and top results at several other Dota 2 events in 2024. They were 7^th – 8^th at BetBoom Dacha Dubai, 1^st at Games of the Future, and 3^rd at DreamLeague S22.

Still, the fans expected either Team Liquid or Gaimin Gladiators to challenge Falcons, not Xtreme. And they expected those teams to lose.

Xtreme Gaming’s Road to Victory

great tournament for us, happy to get another grand finals under our belt before the big tournaments and happy to get slapped a bit to learn how that feels aswell

— Cr1t- (@Cr1tdota) April 14, 2024

Being one of the eight directly invited competitors, Xtreme Gaming started Elite League in the group stage instead of the Swiss stage. They were placed in group B, where they had to play against teams like Liquid, Gladiators, Tundra, Aurora, and BetBoom.

They defeated Blacklist International and Aurora, and drew against the other five opponents. This record clearly suggested that they had what it took to get a great result in the playoffs. But few expected them to win.

Part of the reason why people were skeptical about their chances was that they lost the first upper bracket match against Team Falcons. The score was 2 – 0 and the games were fun to watch, especially the second one. In the first, Falcons took control of the map very quickly and by the 15-minute mark, their gold advantage was already 7000.

But in the second game, Xtreme had a massive lead at the 20-minute mark: almost 12.000 gold. But, after a series of really bad fights, they lost all of it and were defeated after almost one hour of play. This failure sent them to the lower bracket, where they had to win three consecutive matches to reach the Grand Final.

Lower Bracket Adventures

The first one was against PSG Quest, who had made a good impression in the first two stages of the tournament. Xtreme picked a combination of magic and physical damage to deal with Quest’s heroes (Gyrocopter, Morphling, Naga Siren, Tiny etc.).

They had Storm Spirit, Weaver, and Slardar in game 1. In game 2, they picked Sven and Zeus, which is not a usual combo.

Game 1 was won in 50 minutes while game 2 was over in just 37. In game 1, the battle lasted so long because Quest had a major advantage. At the 35-minute mark, their gold lead was 11.500.

Normally, with such a huge lead, a team should win the next battles with ease and gradually increase its map control until the game is won. But Xtreme fought well and nullified Quest’s advantage very quickly. In 4 minutes, the MENA team lost all of their gold lead.

Game 2 was much easier, mainly because Sven is a fast farmer and a formidable team fighting hero. Not to mention his ability to quickly kill Naga illusions. Quest tried to stop him using Enigma and Bane, but their strategy was ineffective against Zeus, Batrider, and Disruptor, who were able to stop their ultimates with ease.

In their next match, against Team Liquid, Xtreme faced a tough opponent and came very close to losing. At the score of 1 – 1, Liquid had a 5.000 gold lead at the 20-minute mark, as well as a stronger late-game draft.

But a series of mistakes caused them to lose their advantage over the next 10 minutes and from there, the battle was completely lost.

This was another match in which we were able to witness the Chinese squad’s ability to outmaneuver opponents in team fights that should have been lost because of the networth difference. Throughout the tournament, Ame lived up to his reputation and proved to be one of the best carry players in China.

The lower bracket Final was a battle between magic and physical damage. Azure Ray picked Sniper in both of their games, as well as tough carries like Troll Warlord and Lifestealer. Xtreme tried to kite them and destroy their heroes with magical damage from a long range. So they picked Zeus both times.

They also picked heroes to assist them in crowd-control, such as Elder Titan, Slardar, Dark Willow, Naga Siren, and Spirit Breaker.

In both games, despite Azure Ray’s good start, Xtreme Gaming proved to be the stronger side. The battles ended after 44 and 49 minutes respectively.

Grand Final

2nd place.

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

— Falcons Esports (@FalconsEsport) April 14, 2024

In the Grand Final of Elite League, Team Falcons were expected to win 3 – 1. They started with a dominant victory in which all of their heroes grew very quickly and reached level 20 with ease. Thanks to this, the late-game battles favored Falcons.

But in the next three games, Xtreme outsmarted and outdrafted the MENA team, picking a lot of different heroes and greatly varying their play style. This made them impossible to read and victory was theirs.

Header: FISSURE, ESB, Xtreme Gaming