Esports World Cup Dota 2 Power Rankings

What could very well turn out to be the biggest Dota 2 tournament of the year, at least in terms of prize money on offer, is almost upon us. Officially known as Dota 2 at the Esports World Cup (EWC), and formerly known as the Riyadh Masters — whatever you want to call it, there’s a ton at stake here for the best professional Dota teams in the world.

You all know why I’m here, so enough waffling. It’s time for the Esports World Cup Dota 2 power rankings.

#1 — PARIVISION

PARIVISION are still head and shoulders above everyone else in the Dota 2 world right now, and losing to Team Liquid in three games at FISSURE Universe Episode 5 does not do much to convince me otherwise. Sure, they got swept, but the lower stature of that tournament in particular leads me to believe they weren’t really trying too hard anyway.

Here is PARIVISION jersey kit for EWC 2025

Take away the nicknames, the colors, the logo — but you'd still recognize us. The style. The energy. The way we see the game.

Our name is hidden, but the skill, the passion and the will to win are still there.

YOU CAN’T HIDE IT pic.twitter.com/iSIAPJtVxX

— PARIVISION (@parivisiongg) July 5, 2025

This roster is still packed to the gills with talent, and personally I feel like they’re really going to turn it on at the EWC. After all, they really seem to feel at home at ESL LANs, which the EWC is one of in all but name.

#2 — Team Liquid

So then here’s the squad that beat PARIVISION most recently. They seem to have gotten their mojo back after a rough few months dealing with all sorts of roster issues that forced them to take on stand-ins. Right now, Liquid’s first priority is to make sure Aydin “Insania” Sarkohi is fit to play, and if he is, reintegrate him into the roster again after his run at PGL Wallachia Season 5 was interrupted by illness.

WE DID IT!!! 🥳

A clean 3-0 makes us your #FISSUREUniverseEp5 CHAMPIONS! 🤩#LetsGoLiquid pic.twitter.com/ogPcnQYg3q

— Team Liquid Dota (@teamliquiddota) July 4, 2025

If he’s nice and healthy, it’s more than just possible for them to win the whole thing — it’s going to be likely. Of course, they still need to not get in their own heads like they tend to sometimes, but if they can keep that part in check, we’re probably going to see them in the grand final.

#3 — BetBoom Team

The winners of PGL Wallachia Season 5 are starting to put it together again, and honestly, I think they’re actually on par with Team Liquid heading into this tournament. The only reason I have them in third place here is because having them tied with Liquid for second place would be kind of a cop out for a power ranking.

⭐️ Congrats, Champs! @BetBoomTeam 🌟#PGLWallachia pic.twitter.com/0H9xQaugNU

— PGL (@pglesports) June 29, 2025

I mean, they schooled Gaimin Gladiators in the Wallachia Season 5 grand final, which came just in time after they fell just short of the title at DreamLeague Season 26. Before that, they had been bouncing around the middle of the pack, with their fourth place finish at ESL One Raleigh being the only result that they could write home about. Now, they’re back in form, and are looking sharper than ever.

#4 — Team Spirit

Fourth place at PGL Wallachia Season 5 sees Team Spirit staying within the upper echelons of the Dota 2 scene as a whole. They had a really rough start to the tournament, going down to the lower bracket in the first round at the hands of eventual champions BetBoom Team — but recovered well enough there to earn themselves a rematch with BetBoom later on.

Our road to the #EWC25 has started! pic.twitter.com/nJv6BinsMc

— Team Spirit Dota 2 (@TSpirit_Dota2) July 6, 2025

They’ve got to fix their drafting situation if they want to secure a good placement at EWC, though. Their upper bracket series versus BetBoom made it look like they were just picking the most random heroes just to see what sticks, while also allowing Ivan “Pure” Moskalenko to just get his hands on Templar Assassin as many times as he wanted. Cleaning up their execution is also a concern, especially for Magomed “Collapse” Khalilov who missed a lot of point blank spears as Mars in the same series.

#5 — Tundra Esports

Tundra Esports have slipped in my eyes lately, having put in a rather poor showing at PGL Wallachia Season 5. There’s no way they should have lost to Na’Vi in the lower bracket; not in two games like they did, or even three games like they could have done, not ever. This team is too damn good to be messing it all up against a much less talented roster.

We are out 💔

Not good enough from us this season.

You deserve our best Tribe.
We will now focus on getting back in top shape for what's ahead of us.

GG, gl further @natusvincere! #PGLWallachia pic.twitter.com/XflIhHmbcM

— TUNDRA (@TundraEsports) June 27, 2025

And, well, that’s why I have them in the top five in this ranking still. They’re oozing with talent and experience across the board, and have been one of the more consistent teams this entire season. I expect them to regroup and put up a tougher fight at EWC than they did at Wallachia.

#6 — Aurora Gaming

I’ve been pretty high on Aurora Gaming’s rapid improvement throughout the latter half of the current season, but they kind of disappointed me at PGL Wallachia Season 5. I expected them to at least make the top 6 there, but instead had to settle for top 8 as they ran into the resurgent Team Spirit in the lower bracket. And the reason they were in the lower bracket in the first place is because Team Liquid completely kicked their s*** in during their upper bracket round 1 series.

🫤 PGL WALLACHIA SEASON 5 IS OVER. We are leaving the tournament in 7th-8th place.

🫡 Without further words and excuses. We will prepare for the upcoming EWC 2025, which starts already on July 8, to show our best Dota.

Thanks to everyone who cheered for us and continues to do… pic.twitter.com/m07WfXg7ap

— Aurora Dota2 (@AuroraDota2_GG) June 27, 2025

I still believe in this squad’s potential, but maybe now is not yet the time for them to be winning premier LANs. EWC is likely going to be another decent run and another learning experience for them, which they can use to motivate themselves heading into The International in September.

#7 — Gaimin Gladiators

Just when I think the Gladiators are finally figuring things out with their two newest players, they find ways to take that hope away. Not only did they get nearly blown out by BetBoom in the Wallachia grand finals, they also stumbled at basically every turn at FISSURE Universe. You know, the tournament that was supposed to be a layup for them outside of facing PARIVISION.

3 more days until we begin our title defence.#EWC pic.twitter.com/lV9mtoKA3i

— GG | Gaimin Gladiators ⚔️ (@GaiminGladiator) July 5, 2025

Which version of Gaimin will show up at EWC is anyone’s guess at this point, and so I have them quite a bit lower than they would probably like. They should at least have some pride in their EWC title and defend it accordingly, but since they won that with the old roster, things just might not feel that way in their camp right now.

#8 — Team Falcons

Geez, has it really been nearly two months since we last saw Team Falcons compete anywhere? Such an extended break can have both pros and cons, but for Falcons in particular, I’m not sure it’ll do them a lot of good. They’ve missed out on podium finishes for a good portion of this season, though they did place second at BLAST Slam 3 in May. Just 11 days later, though, they were eliminated from DreamLeague Season 26 in 10th place.

This squad now looks more vulnerable than they ever have since forming in 2023. They don’t look nearly as unstoppable now as they did last year, so I’m cautious about being too high on them going into the Esports World Cup — and that’s taking into account that this is basically their “home” tournament.

Everyone Else

The rest of the field really isn’t too interesting, so I’m not going to talk about any of them at length here. Xtreme Gaming and Talon Esports are the dark horses in my opinion, with XG’s stock in particular seeing a steady rise over the last month. They beat Team Tidebound in a closely contested five-game series at the Asian Champions League to qualify for the EWC, and they also qualified for TI14 through the Chinese regionals.

Talon placed surprisingly well at DreamLeague Season 26, bagging third place after defeating Aurora Gaming in the first round of the lower bracket. They can clearly turn things on when they want to, but they might have trouble getting to the finish line if they even make a deep run in Riyadh. If their best player Nuengnara “23savage” Teeramahanon can ground himself and not throw away seemingly unloseable games like he did at the TI14 Southeast Asia regional qualifiers, they might just turn some heads yet again.