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Xtreme Gaming are the Champions of Elite League
After a quiet two years, Chinese teams are back to dominating the Dota 2 scene. Azure Ray were the champions in ESL Kuala Lumpur and now Xtreme Gaming is continuing the tradition, with an impressive 3-1 victory over Team Falcons.
This is Xtreme Gaming's second trophy of the year, as they also won Games of the Future in February. They are tied with Falcons for most tournament victories in 2024 so far.
Xtreme Gaming countered ATF's Timbersaw three games in a row
The Chinese team had a long final day. First, they had to take down Azure Ray in the lower bracket finals and then face off against Team Falcons. The MENA squad has yet to lose three games in a row and had back-to-back first-place finishes at BetBoom Dacha Dubai and DreamLeague Season 22.
Falcons were off to a good start, taking game one with little trouble, however, Xtreme Gaming had an interesting trick in the following three games.
Ammar "ATF" Al-Assaf is infamous for being one of the best if not the best Timbersaw player in the world and most teams rightfully ban it against Team Falcons.
Xtreme Gaming believed they could counter the hero with high burst magic damage and their plan paid off, as Timbersaw struggled to find his footing in all three games he was picked.
It should be noted that in two of the games, Timbersaw was played by Stanislav "Malr1ne" Potorak in the mid-lane. It made no matter for Xtreme, who knew how to counter Falcon's durable tri-core strategy.
Falcons have a lot of respect for Xtreme Gaming
Despite beating Xtreme in the first round of the upper bracket of the tournament, Falcon's captain Jingjun "Sneyking" Wu stated that the Chinese squad regularly destroyed them in practice games.
"Our record in scrims against them is actually not that good. I think we're 1-5 in the last six scrims we played, but we haven't been practicing that much before this tournament because we had some visa issues.
But they are a very formidable opponent, so we definitely prepare a lot and don't underestimate them, despite our good record in officials."
The loss against Xtreme Gaming is notable for the MENA squad, as it is the first time they lose three games in a row in over 160 games played.
With a new patch coming out soon and this defeat over their heads, will Falcons start slipping as the year progress or will they recover in time for ESL Birmingham?
Xtreme's victory sets the tone that China is back as a Dota 2 powerhouse region. After more than a year without a gold medal, the region secures two within six months, tying with MENA as the scariest region to play against.
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Featured Image Source: Fissure/ESB
