5 best Dota 2 matches of 2025

The Dota 2 2025 esports season is coming to a close, and after all the drama throughout the year, it has given us plenty of great matches. With the International, aka Dota ti, still boasting one of the biggest prize pools in esports, there are plenty of eyes on the esport, and thus plenty at stake when the players take to the stage.

There has been a mix of heart-racing narratives, from Ame somehow losing three grand finals on the fifth game against Magnus each time to Team Falcons winning the International. Dota 2 esports still has a lot to give, and 2026 will likely carry on the momentum from 2025.

With that said, let’s look back at 2025 and select the best Dota 2 matches throughout the season.

While deciding the best Dota 2 matches is subjective, we will be looking at a few factors to help determine our best matches of 2025:

While a best-of-three, and not a best-of-five like the Grand Final, The International’s play-offs still had some exciting matches. The highlight of these matches was the lower bracket quarterfinal between BetBoom and Heroic, a closely-fought affair.

This match was a back-and-forth drama, especially the first game, which revolved around Heroic targeting BetBoom’s Anti-Mage. The deciding game could have swung either way, but after a close-fought battle, BetBoom eventually got over the line with a win.

BetBoom would then fall to Xtreme Gaming in the semi-final 2-0.

While Tier-1 events after The International tend to get overlooked, the PGL Wallachia Grand Final showed that the Dota 2 esports calendar still has plenty of life after the conclusion of its biggest tournament. Mouz took the stage against Team Spirit for one of the last trophies of the year, and both battled tooth and nail for the prize.

Having lost to Team Spirit in the group stage, Mouz went in looking for revenge. The vengeful showdown started poorly for Mouz after Team Spirit drew first blood, but Mouz came back to make it 2-1 before Spirit was able to even up the tie. It came down to the last game, and Mouz had its revenge in one of the most riveting matches of the year.

PGL Wallachia Season 7 will return to Bucharest in 2026, and the hope is that it can deliver a match as great as its predecessor.

There is ordinarily less on the line during group stage matches, since teams can afford a loss here and there, but Xtreme Gaming and Team Falcons didn’t get the memo when they went up against each other. They both fought with an intensity we would later see matched in the grand final, giving fans a sneak peek at what was to come.

Xtreme won the tie 2-1, marking it as one of the best group stage matches in The International’s history. It also meant that Xtreme Gaming could continue its ruthless, unbeaten streak in the group stage that would eventually take it all the way to the Grand Finals, while Team Falcons had to regroup to finally take the trophy home.

Despite only being a best-of-three match, this proved to be one of the most exciting that Dota 2 esports in 2025 had to offer.

The DreamLeague Grand Final was a strange affair, given the DDoS attack-related delay. This was frustrating at the time, and many fans spoke out about the poor reflection on DreamLeague, with Map 4 having to be rescheduled. Looking back, it added more drama to the affair, although it wasn’t like the match needed it.

It was a five-map thriller, with Team Spirit showing great resilience to overcome significant gold deficits and stop Tundra from completing a three-peat at the event. Despite the mess around the delays, it didn’t stop Team Spirit and Tundra Esports from delivering an epic at the start of the year. 

Team Spirit’s victory led them to win the Tier 1 event, earning $250,000 of the $1,000,000 total prize pool.

With The International being one of the biggest stages in esports, and the final being the most important match in this tournament, the stakes couldn’t have been higher when the Falcons and Xtreme Gaming once again took to the stage. Their third meeting on this list didn’t disappoint, being an intense, gritty, five-game marathon.

This time, it ended in Team Falcons’ favour, claiming the Aegis of Champions, and it also became Xtreme Gaming player Ame’s third five-game finals loss to an enemy Magnus. It’s a strange coincidence, although Ame might start believing something supernatural went on, especially since Xtreme Gaming led the tie 2-1 before eventually losing.

The International’s grand final deservedly ended the tournament with a bang.

With Valve’s backing, the  Dota 2 matches schedule across 2025 has once again delivered, and 2026 will have plenty to look forward to. As the biggest event in the Dota 2 calendar, The International shone the most in our list, but some of the Tier 1 events showed some of the best that the esport had on offer.

As with every year, 2025 raises many questions for Dota 2 in 2026. Can Team Falcons defend The International, and who will be the champions of the numerous Tier 1 events? There’s plenty to look forward to next year, especially if it’s anything like 2025.