Tundra crash out of TI 2025 Playoffs

Darragh Harbinson, Senior Editor

Last Updated: 12/09/2025

Tundra Esports have crashed out of The International playoffs after a 2-0 defeat to Heroic.

The loss follows their upper bracket defeat to event favourites Xtreme Gaming, also a 2-0 defeat.

Tundra’s elimination highlights Liquid’s failure

Tundra were forced into a roster change just three days before The International commenced, as Matthew ‘Whitemon’ Filemon faced Visa issues which prevented his attendance in Germany.

Despite playing with Tobias ‘Tobi’ Buchner, Tundra defeated Team Liquid in the play-in stage of the event after going 2-3 in the Swiss group stage. Liquid had been a significant favourite among esports betting sites for the match after going 3-2 in the group.

Tundra’s elimination prompted references to Liquid’s Play-in defeat, with one Redditor posting, “Liquid losing to Tundra is the real joke here.”

Coincidentally, Tobi had stood in earlier in the year for two events for Team Liquid, at PGL Wallachia, where Liquid finished 3rd place, and Fissure Universe: Episode 5, which Liquid won.

Those stand-in heroics could not be replicated in DotA’s most prestigious event, as Tundra fell to finish 7th-8th at the event.

Do Tundra need changes after The International elimination?

Tundra, in the end, did not look in the form to compete with DotA’s best. The exact reasons for that are already a developing discourse.

For some fans, the absence of their extremely talented 5th position player was enough to write off the event; for other fans, the overall approach during their matches pointed to flaws that lay deeper in the roster.

Fans have pointed to their propensity to lose control of the mid-late game as a systemic reason for their failure, in spite of the latent excuse of having a stand-in.

Certainly, in the post-match interview with British interviewer Ted ‘Pyrion Flax’ Forsyth, Neta ’33’ Shapira made no excuses for his team’s demise as he thanked Tobi for his stand-in appearance, saying that he “played amazing.”

Regarding Heroic’s playstyle, 33 admitted that they knew what was coming but could not find the solutions in the server, stating:

“I think they just play a lot differently to pretty much all the top teams right now… These guys are kind of the opposite, they are always ready to take risks… We got caught off guard by it, even though we knew it was coming.”

33 then addressed fans, saying, “I know it was a disappointing end to the season for us… Sorry, it had to end this way.”

Tundra will lick their wounds from a painful playoff exit, but 2025 has seen multiple trophies for the UK-based organisation, including victories at BLAST Slam II & III, as well as victory at Fissure Playground 1.

But with their form regressing throughout the year and failure at DotA 2’s central event, there is no escaping the pressure of potential changes despite a successful season.

Darragh Harbinson, Senior Editor

Darragh Harbinson is an esports writer specialising in Counter-Strike. He has written for Esports News UK, Esports Insider, UKCSGO, Dexerto, and Rush B Media.

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