Xtreme Gaming Qualifies To Riyadh Masters 2025 Over Team Tidebound

Have you ever thought you could make $100,000 from a single day of playing Dota 2? Well, Xtreme Gaming has just experienced it first hand, as they lifted the trophy at the Asian Champions League event, not only taking home the cash prize, but also punching a ticket to the upcoming Riyadh Masters 2025 event.

What is the Asian Champions League 2025?

If this is the first time you hear about the event, I don’t blame you – it feels like a tournament that went under the radar despite its relative importance. The Asian Champions League is a $150,000 day-long tournament that serves as the Chinese qualifiers for Riyadh Masters 2025. 

The tournament only featured four participants, which included Xtreme Gaming, Team Tidebound, Yakult’s Brothers, and Excel Esports.

The teams were settled into a single-elimination bracket, where Xtreme Gaming and Team Tidebound won their respective matches to reach the Grand Final. An hour after the Semi-Final matches, the two Chinese titans immediately duked it out in a Best of 5 Grand Final.

Xtreme Gaming Wins In A Clash Between Old Teammates

All five players on the legendary PSG.LGD lineup at The International 10 were present in this match, but Xtreme Gaming proved that two were better than three.

Game 1 – NothingToSay Takes Over With Puck

In the first map, Team Tidebound displayed why they were worthy of an invitation to The International 2025. NothingToSay went nuclear on his trusty Puck, dealing 20,000 damage in a 26-minute stomp. Xtreme Gaming could only post two kills and were forced to concede 17, forcing an early GG call before a lane of Barracks was even taken. 

Game 2 – Xm Replies To His Mid Counterpart

Xtreme Gaming’s mid-laner Xm didn’t want to be embarrassed by NothingToSay, and played a nasty Monkey King on the second map. The early game went swimmingly for the Xtreme side, as Xm was creating lots of space and finding kill opportunities across the map. In another 26-minute stomp the other way, Xm ended the game 9/0/11 with an impressive 100% kill participation rate. 

Game 3 – A Throw That’ll Come Back To Bite

Team Tidebound wanted to take back the lead in the series in the third game, as NothingToSay’s Pangolier and planet’s Gyrocopter were killing Xtreme Gaming heroes left and right. After building up a 10,000 net worth lead, Team Tidebound played sloppy and made mistakes that proved to be fatal. 

In a throwback to The International 10, Ame put the team on his back with his carry Tiny, going 13/4/7 and dealing 44,000 hero damage to push his team into the lead. 

Game 4 – Third Time’s Not A Charm

After winning the previous two games on Monkey King, Xm went for his third game in a row on the hero. Despite getting a favorable mid matchup against NothingToSay’s Tiny, he couldn’t get the ball rolling this time. Team Tidebound executed their fast-tempo draft to near perfection, choking Xtreme Gaming out of the map and giving them no room to farm. After 35 minutes, the series was leveled, and a fifth map was required. 

Game 5 – An Anti-Climactic Ending

Sadly, we didn’t get the fifth map thriller we’re all looking for in a high-stakes series like this one. Xtreme Gaming had full control of the entire game and didn’t concede the gold lead for even a second. Xm’s Sand King led the charge to a very clean 39-minute win for Xtreme Gaming to win the Asian Champions League tournament. 

Unfortunately, Team Tidebound won’t be repping their new All Gamers jerseys at Riyadh, as Xtreme Gaming will represent China in their place. 

Still, the newly acquired squad can focus on The International 2025, as they have already been invited. Though Xtreme Gaming didn’t have the free pass to the event, they can still fight through the Chinese qualifiers to join their fellow countrymen.