New York/Cologne, 24th September, 2023 – The Grand Finals of DreamLeague Season 21 powered by Intel® concluded with a dominating performance by Team Spirit as they emerged victorious against Shopify Rebellion with a clean 3-0 sweep, claiming their spot as champions and $300,000 in prize money. 

The 21st Season of DreamLeague took place from September 18-24 and saw 12 of the world’s best Dota 2 teams battle it out online for their share of the $1,000,000 total prize pool in the last tier 1 event before The International 2023.

Group Stage

The tournament kicked off with the group Group Stage where teams were divided into two groups of six. Group A consisted of Shopify Rebellion, Tundra Esports, Entity, 9Pandas, Team Liquid, and Talon, while Group B consisted of Team Spirit, BetBoom Team, Gaimin Gladiators, OG, Evil Geniuses, and Quest Esports.

Favourites Shopify Rebellion and Tundra Esports topped the leaderboard in Group A, securing spots in the Upper Bracket for the Playoffs. Entity and 9Pandas went through to the Lower Bracket following decent performances, while Team Liquid and Talon Esports were knocked out.

In Group B, Team Spirit dominated with 2-0 victories in most of their matchups, and BetBoom Team trailed close behind, securing spots in the Upper Bracket of the Playoffs. Gaimin Gladiators and OG had lacking performances, but still managed to pull through to the Lower Bracket, whereas Evil Geniuses and Quest Esports were sent home following some difficult losses.

Playoffs

The Playoffs kicked off on September 21 with the Upper Bracket Semifinals, which saw Shopify Rebellion facing off against BetBoom Team, and Team Spirit against Tundra Esports. The first semi-final was looking promising at first for BetBoom Team who won the first game in the BO3, but Shopify Rebellion pulled through with back-to-back wins, securing their spot in the Upper Bracket Finals and relegating BetBoom Team to the Lower Bracket. The second semi-final was a clean sweep from Team Spirit with a 2-0 victory over Tundra Esports.

Team Spirit and Shopify Rebellion traded wins in the Upper Bracket Final, with Team Spirit coming out on top and progressing through to the Grand Final. Shopify Rebellion faced relegation to the Lower Bracket.

The competition for a spot in the Grand Final was fierce in the Lower Bracket, with OG and BetBoom Team maintaining significant win streaks and both Gaimin Gladiators and 9Pandas getting knocked out in the first round. Despite BetBoom Team coming out victorious over OG in the Lower Bracket Semifinal and putting up a good fight in the Lower Bracket Final, they couldn’t get ahead of Shopify Rebellion, who took the win and the spot in the Grand Final against Team Spirit.

Grand Finals

Following a fantastic performance at Riyadh Master 2023 in July where they secured 1st place, Team Spirit were the favourites to win from the start, and they outperformed in every way imaginable. Shopify Rebellion had a rough year thus far with low placements in recent tournaments, but they put up a good fight against such formidable opponents.

The first game of the day was especially brilliant, with both sides giving their all in numerous intense teamfights and the timer pushing well past an hour. After 68 minutes, the close game ended with Team Spirit taking the win.

Going into game 2, a few well-played teamfights put Team Spirit ahead early, and they put up a fantastic performance that Shopify Rebellion couldn’t match. This momentum continued into game 3, where Team Spirit continued to dominate, not giving Shopify Rebellion a chance to catch up. The final score was 3-0 and Team Spirit were crowned as the DreamLeague Season 21 Champions.

Team Spirit’s Yaroslav “Miposhka” Naidenov commented on his team synergy: “I love how every one of us can make jokes and how it’s always nice to just [spend] time with each other. (…) I like that every one of us is still motivated and trying to find something new in Dota and keep practicing.”

DreamLeague Season 21 saw well over 11,000,000 hours watched, with a peak viewership of more than 380,000.*

For more details about the ESL Pro Tour for Dota 2, head over to the official website, and follow ESL Dota 2 on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

*According to escharts.com.

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Assets for DreamLeague Season 21 can be found in the DreamLeague Season 21 press kit.

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ESL creates a world where everybody can be somebody. For more than two decades, we have been shaping the industry and leading esports and gaming innovation globally across the most popular video games, creating a comprehensive ecosystem with opportunities for players to go from zero to hero and for fans to witness the best stories esports has to offer. The ESL portfolio consists of high-profile products such as the ESL Pro Tour, Intel® Extreme Masters, the Snapdragon Pro Series, and many more, ranging from grassroots to global elite competitions. ESL is part of ESL FACEIT Group, the leading esports and video game entertainment company.

About DreamLeague 

Founded by DreamHack in 2013, DreamLeague is one of the oldest Dota 2 brands and features the best teams from around the globe. The league is among the longest running Dota 2 leagues, celebrating its 20th season this year. Since 2023, DreamLeague is hosted online as part of the ESL Pro Tour for Dota 2 and has millions of US dollars in prize money up for grabs every year (https://pro.eslgaming.com/dreamleague/).