Eight teams survived FISSURE PLAYGROUND #1’s Swiss format Group Stage to advance to the Playoffs.
The action is heating up in FISSURE PLAYGROUND #1, the first Dota 2 LAN tournament of 2025, as eight out of the 16 participating teams advanced to the Playoffs with the conclusion of the event’s Group Stage on Tuesday (January 28).
Eastern European powerhouseBetBoom Team and South American stalwarts HEROIC led the list of Playoff-qualified teams after perfect runs through the tournament’s Swiss format Group Stage. They are joined by PARIVISION, Team Falcons, Team Spirit, Talon Esports, Team Liquid, and Tundra Esports.
Meanwhile, AVULUS, Gaimin Gladiators, Xtreme Gaming, Aurora Gaming, Wildcard Gaming, Yakult’s Brothers, Chimera Esports, and Shopify Rebellion failed to make it out of the Group Stage and have all been eliminated.
Here’s how all the action in the FISSURE PLAYGROUND #1 Group Stage went down:
The FISSURE PLAYGROUND #1 Group Stage followed a modified Swiss System format, where 16 teams fought across five rounds of matches to earn qualification for the Playoffs. The first eight teams that scored three match victories advanced to the Playoffs while the remaining eight were eliminated early. All advancement and elimination matches were best-of-three series, while all others were best-of-one matches.
BetBoom were the first to qualify for the Playoffs, cruising through North American squads Shopify Rebellion and Wildcard before taking down The International (TI) 2024 champions Liquid in a 2-0 sweep. HEROIC followed suit with a surprising and clean run of their own, starting with an upset over Western European powerhouse Falcons in round one and Southeast Asia’s Aurora in round two. The South American squad then capped off their perfect run with another huge upset over Spirit in a 2-0 sweep.
PARIVISION and Falcons qualified for the Playoffs despite losing their round one matches to Aurora and HEROIC, respectively. PARIVISION bounced back with victories over Chimera and Yakult’s Brothers in rounds two and three before taking down Liquid in three games in round four to secure their Playoff spot. Meanwhile, Falcons recovered from their early stumble with victories over AVULUS and Wildcard then emerged victorious over Gaimin Gladiators in round four.
Spirit also qualified for the Playoffs with a 3-1 score, having won their first two matches versus Chimera and Yakult’s Brothers before getting upset by HEROIC. The champions of TI 2021 and TI 2023 punched their tickets to the Playoffs with a 2-1 victory over AVULUS in round four.
Talon, Liquid, and Tundra then rounded out the eight Playoff-qualified teams, having to go through all five rounds of the Group Stage to secure advancement. The fifth and final round of the Group Stage saw Talon take down AVULUS, 2-1, while Liquid and Tundra soundly swept Xtreme and Gaimin Gladiators, respectively.
Tundra’s dramatic rout of Gaimin Gladiators notably extended their win streak over their opponents to 6-0 since Anton “dyrachyo” Shkredov joined Tundra after getting kicked from Gaimin Gladiators.
AVULUS, Gaimin Gladiators, and Xtreme exit FISSURE PLAYGROUND #1 in 9th-11th place and will be taking home $15,000 in consolation. Wildcard, Yakult’s Brothers, and Aurora earned $10,000 for their efforts while Chimera and Shopify Rebellion get $5,000.