Tundra Esports Are the ESL One Birmingham Champions

ESL One Birmingham has come to an end, and Tundra Esports has won the tournament. Tundra will hold the title of reigning ESL One champions for an entire season, since the remaining 2026 tournaments are DreamLeague and the Esports World Cup.

This means that we are past the midpoint of this ESL Pro Tour season and have a better idea of which teams are closer to securing an invite to EWC 2026. Let's take a look at how teams made their way through the Playoffs and how these results affect the EPT.

Tundra Esports Got to the Grand Final First

Starting with the journey of Tundra Esports, we have a hard-earned 2-1 victory against Aurora Gaming in the Upper Bracket Semifinals. Aurora was their opponent in the DreamLeague Season 28 Grand Final but failed to advance this time.

On the Upper Bracket Final, Tundra Esports would face Team Yandex. Yandex got past the group stage in first place, above Tundra in Group A. Despite their theoretical advantage, Yandex lost by 2-0 and dropped to the Lower Bracket while Tundra advanced to the Grand Final.

Team Yandex Bounced Back

We already know how Team Yandex's journey ends, but let's look at how it started in the Playoffs. First, Yandex defeated Team Spirit 2-1 in the Semifinals, adding further pressure to Spirit.

Next, they lost the aforementioned Upper Bracket Final and moved on to face Xtreme Gaming in the Lower Bracket Final. Xtreme Gaming is the shining hope of China in the Dota 2 pro circuit but is still missing something essential to break through to the Grand Finals.

Yandex won 2-1 against Xtreme Gaming. The Chinese squad secured a respectable third place but will feel the urgency of The International approaching. Team Yandex earned another chance to challenge Tundra’s strong performance in the Grand Final.

Tundra Esports are the ESL One Birmingham Champions

The Grand Final started with Team Yandex taking the lead after winning the first map. The second map was a very intense match, with Tundra evening the score at 1-1.

After tying the series, Tundra Esports snowballed and won the third and fourth maps to become the ESL One Birmingham champions. Tundra will receive $290,000 in total prize money (main prize + club reward) and 8,000 EPT points for the championship.

Team Yandex earned $130,000 in prize money and 6,600 EPT points due to their first-place finish in the Group Stage. Finally, Xtreme Gaming takes $105,000 and 5,000 EPT points for third place. This marks the third of four tournaments that will determine the standings before the EWC.

Closing Thoughts

After a long sequence of Tier 1 tournaments with almost no breaks, we will now have a couple of weeks of qualifiers and smaller events. The next big tournament, PGL Wallachia 8, begins on April 16. In the meantime, teams will either compete in smaller events or scrim to develop their own meta in the new patch.

Team Liquid will be the Tier 1 team going the longest without competing in Tier 1 tournaments but will make an appearance in the PREMIER SERIES. Tundra Esports has maintained a 100% win rate in ESL Pro Tour tournaments in 2026 so far.

Finally, Team Yandex has established itself as a bona fide Tier 1 team, while Team Falcons, Team Spirit, and PARIVISION have seen their performances drop another level after failing to reach the Top 3.

If you want to stay informed about meta changes, player retirements, team roster changes, upcoming tournaments, and everything Dota 2-related, check out the news section on the Strafe website!

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Featured Image Source: Twitter (@ESLDota2)