Tundra sneaks into ESL One Raleigh upper-bracket semis

Despite going undefeated in the group stage of the Dota 2 ESL One Raleigh event, Tundra Esports needed to win a tiebreaker match Wednesday to claim second place in Group B.

A 2-0 win over HEROIC (0-3-2) on Wednesday left Tundra with a 1-0-4 match record and a 6-4 map record -- the map mark same as BetBoom Team, who swept AVULUS (1-1-3) by a 2-0 count to move to 2-1-2. BetBoom and Tundra then met in a tiebreaker match, and Tunder emerged with a 2-0 victory, prevailing in 53 minutes on red and 40 minutes on green.

Team Falcons (2-0-3) wrapped up first place in Group B by drawing 1-1 against Team Tidebound (0-1-4).

PARIVISION (4-0-1) and Team Spirit (3-0-2) both capped unbeaten runs in Group A. PARIVISION recorded a 2-0 win over Nigma Galaxy (2-3-0), and Spirit logged a 2-0 victory against Talon Esports (0-1-4). In the other Group A match, Team Liquid (2-2-1) played to a 1-1 draw against Shopify Rebellion (0-3-2).

The $1 million tournament -- the first ESL One event played in the United States since 2015 -- runs through Sunday. It is the fourth of five events that make up the ESL Pro Tour. DreamLeague Season 26 will be held in Europe from May 19-June 1.

In Raleigh, the 12 teams were split into two six-team groups for three days of round-robin play. Group-play matches were two games each, with ties possible. The top two teams from each group advance to the upper bracket of the playoffs beginning Thursday. The third- and fourth-place teams head to the lower bracket beginning Friday, while the fifth- and sixth-place teams will be eliminated.

The action starting Friday will be played in front of a live audience.

The winner will take home $250,000 in prize money, $40,000 in club money and a share of the 27,920 ESL Pro Tour points available in the tournament. The second-place squad will receive $130,000 and $35,000 plus EPT points.

The upper-bracket semifinal matches on Thursday will be PARIVISION vs. Tundra Esports and Team Falcons vs. Team Spirit.

In lower-bracket first-round matches on Friday, Team Liquid will oppose AVULUS and BetBoom Team will clash with Nigma Galaxy.

ESL One Raleigh 2025 final group standings (overall record followed by composite game record)

Group A

1. PARAVISION (4-0-1, 9-1)

2. Team Spirit (3-0-2, 8-2)

3. Team Liquid (2-1-2, 6-4)

4. Nigma Galaxy (2-3-0, 4-6)

5. Shopify Rebellion (0-3-2, 2-8)

6. Talon Esports (0-4-1, 1-9)

Group B

1. Team Falcons (2-0-3, 7-3)

*2. Tundra Esports (1-0-4, 6-4)

3. BetBoom Team (2-1-2, 6-4)

4. AVULUS (1-1-3, 5-5)

5. Team Tidebound (0-1-4, 4-6)

6. HEROIC (0-3-2, 2-8)

*won tiebreaker match for second place in group

--Field Level Media