FISSURE Universe Episode 6 Power Rankings

If you thought that the conclusion of Dota 2 at the Esports World Cup (EWC) and Clavision Masters 2025 would mark the last significant Dota tournaments before The International 2025 (TI14), well, you can think again. FISSURE Universe Episode 6 is now less than 6 hours away, giving us Dota fans another small taste of what we might see at TI14 in terms of the metagame and the pecking order between the participating teams.

Sure, this event will be held online, which automatically makes it less prestigious than a LAN like the EWC — but then again, so is DreamLeague, and we all know how important that is. So anyway, if you haven’t had your fill of pre-TI Dota just yet, then you’re in the right place. It’s time to look at the power rankings for FISSURE Universe Episode 6.

#1 — Team Falcons

First of all, can I just say how stacked this lineup is? 7 out of 10 squads playing at FISSURE Universe Episode 6 played in the EWC top 8 bracket. Only Team Tidebound, AVULUS, and Virtus.pro missed out on the EWC tournament entirely. In Tidebound’s case, they fell just painfully short of qualifying for it out of the Asian Champions League — and by that I mean they were a deciding game 5 away from getting in.

I debated with myself internally for quite some time about whether or not I’d put Team Falcons this high on the list, but since they seem to have found their groove again and since Spirit will be playing with a stand-in, I’m thinking this placing is pretty easily justifiable. Yes, they did get blown out of the water by Spirit in the EWC grand finals, but the fact that Falcons got there without dropping a single map in the playoffs is quite admirable.

It is obvious therefore that this team is still very much capable of hitting their usual potential, but their inconsistency is still likely going to be a concern at this event. Let it never be said that this roster isn’t ridiculously talented, but their tendency to trip over their own big shoes is well-documented.

#2 — Team Spirit

I initially had Team Spirit above Falcons on this list, but they have since announced that Denis “Larl” Sigitov will not be with them for FISSURE Universe Episode 6. Marat “Mirele” Gazetdinov, the mid laner from Yellow Submarine (also known as Spirit’s junior squad), will play in his stead.

This is a significant downgrade for Team Spirit, but personally, I still don’t think it’s enough to knock them down the order more than a few places at worst. The rest of the roster will be around for this event, and we already know what the four remaining members can do at any given event. They will have to deal with a weak link in the solo mid position, but if there’s any team that can handle this kind of setback, it’s the two-time International champions and the most recent winner of the EWC Dota 2 tournament.

#3 — Team Tidebound

Oh, what happy days for the Chinese Dota scene. Not only do they have Team Tidebound to rely on against international competition, but the very same team actually won a LAN event in the big 2025, as the kids say these days. The Chinese scene has long needed a breakthrough after the “name brand” organizations over there closed shop when it came to their Dota teams. Gone are the days of LGD Gaming, Vici Gaming, EHOME, and pretty much all the other classic Chinese orgs.

Congratulations to Team Tidebound on winning the Clavision Masters 2025: Snow-Ruyi!
From Jul 28 to Aug 3, 10 elite global teams clashed in the Winter Olympic town of #Zhangjiakou.
Tidebound's epic 3–2 win over Tundra Esports in the Aug 3 Grand Final secured #China's first tier-1… pic.twitter.com/F5vY5SAxuH

— Beijing Olympic City Development Association (@BJ_OlympicCity) August 4, 2025

Tidebound actually got picked up by All Gamers Global some months ago, but for some reason have since gone back to just being Tidebound. Not sure if they completely lost the sponsorship, but if they did, then their victory at Clavision Masters is just all the more impressive now in hindsight. I still don’t think they’re as good as the European teams, but their momentum from Clavision Masters gives me hope that they can turn it on when they need to.

#4 — PARIVISION

Suddenly, I’m not so sure that PARIVISION are as untouchable as they were just a month or two ago. They didn’t top their group at EWC and lost in rather odd fashion to Spirit in the semifinals, mostly because they tried to get too cute with the draft in game 1 by picking offlane Ogre Magi for Dmitry “DM” Dorokhin. Spirit were quick to take advantage, and even when PARIVISION stopped fooling around with their picks, it was already too late.

There’s no denying the sheer amount of talent on this roster, and how their playstyle is just modern Dota perfected in about every department. But there’s also no denying that they tend to feel themselves a little too much when they’re dominating, which can lead to some rather dumb mistakes — whether that’s in-game or on the drafting screen. Thus, as strange as it may seem, I’m putting them in the fourth spot on this list.

#5 — BetBoom Team

The fact that BetBoom Team is even in the middle portion of this list is not actually an indication of their skill level. On the contrary, they’re still really damn good, as evidenced by their first place finish in their EWC group, and the fact that they very nearly advanced to the semifinal match. They were stopped by Tundra Esports’ comeback effort in the third game of their quarterfinal series, but that match really could have gone either way.

Instead, they’re here for much the same reasons that I still have some reservations about Team Falcons: BetBoom are known for throwing very winnable games away. They’ve gone back to those ways somewhat, as seen in the aforementioned Tundra comeback, so I’m still a little hesitant to put them any higher than this for FISSURE Universe Episode 6.

#6 — Gaimin Gladiators

Speaking of being on the wrong side of a comeback, that’s exactly what happened to Gaimin Gladiators at EWC. And of course, it was at the hands of Team Spirit. They had a net worth lead of almost 30,000 gold in the first game of their quarterfinal match, only for Marcus “Ace” Christensen to flush it all down the drain by going to places he shouldn’t have been as Axe.

I’ve been saying for a while now that the Gladiators have been figuring out their new, post-Anton “dyrachyo” Shkredov and Melchior “Seleri” Hillenkamp roster, which I still think is true — but if they really want to hit that next level with Alimzhan “watson” Islambekov and Arman “Malady” Orazbayev, they’ll need to do much better than their performance at EWC.

#7 — Team Liquid

Would you look at that: I’m already at the seventh spot on this 10-team list, and I haven’t been able to do a “the rest of the field” section yet. I wouldn’t dare do that to Team Liquid, the defending International champions and most recently the winners of FISSURE Universe Episode 5, but their mediocre showing at EWC gives me pause on putting them any higher.

To go from topping their group and losing two games straight to Falcons in the playoffs was just embarrassing. I know that Falcons eventually reached the grand final match and the playoffs themselves were single elimination, but surely Liquid are good enough to not just roll over and die like that. Then again, this is the same team that can win a premier LAN one day and get eliminated in 12th the next, so who even knows anymore with these guys.

#8 — Aurora Gaming

Remember when I said that this list of teams is stacked? We’ve only got three more spots to go including this one, and it’s going to Aurora Gaming of all teams. Now, snatching a playoff game over PARIVISION when they were messing around with Phantom Lancer wasn’t exactly the hardest thing to do in the Dota world, but just the idea of them coming that close to beating (what should have been) the best team on the planet at EWC had me going for a while.

Unfortunately, they weren’t able to accomplish that, so I’m keeping them here in eighth place where they usually would be in a typical 12 to 16-team competition. Maybe they’ll hit a breakthrough this time around?

The Rest

Okay, now we’re at the cutoff point. Neither Virtus.pro nor AVULUS have the chops to really challenge the eight squads above them in this power ranking. Actually, I’m amazed that AVULUS are still around, seeing how they just got mollywopped at PGL Wallachia Season 5. I had honestly assumed they were on the way to disbandment, but here they are still.

Either way, I don’t foresee them coming even close to the top half of the tournament.