MOBA PC.Dota 2 – day three at GOTF 2025 sees a gripping end to the group stage as four teams battle to stay in contention.

The third day of MOBA PC.Dota 2 competition at the Games of the Future Abu Dhabi 2025 powered by ADNOC was always going to be tense from the start. Competing teams had lost one match previously in the group stage – and so needed victory here to make it to the semi-finals.

The pressure was intense and the atmosphere at Pixoul Abu Dhabi was buzzing with anticipation. With everything to play for, there were bold moves, strong plays and – eventually – celebrations. Here’s how it went down.

This was always set to be a fascinating contest between two teams who’ve had different fortunes so far in the tournament. Paper Tigers had a strong start on the first day but narrowly lost to Vikings in their second match, whereas TpaBoTeam initially struggled to find their form but roared back with a second-day win over E7.

And a fascinating match it proved. TpaBoTeam took an early lead, winning in a hard-fought 43 mins. It was in fact a fairly balanced contest throughout until the last 15 minutes when TpaBoTeam suddenly edged ahead and secured the win. The second match turned out to be an almost exact repeat of the first with both sides running neck-and-neck until, in the last minutes, TpaBoTeam moved in and wrapped everything up in just under 1hr 19mins.

TpaBoTeam’s Midlaner Timur “TpaBoMaH” Khafizov was both thrilled and relieved at the result, “Everything went exactly as we planned. The bans were as we predicted, we knew how to respond, and so we came out on top after the draft,” he said after the match. “We were very confident. We trained well and figured out how we wanted to play. The preparation from the previous day helped us a lot. We learned how to rotate better in different roles and what heroes we should focus on. We also hid some heroes in the earlier matches and revealed them today in a more important game.”

TpaBoTeam now faces Win in the next round – the only team who haven’t lost a single map so far. But TpaBoMah says they’re ready for the challenge.

“It will be interesting because we already know them well. We’ve faced each other before – they know our weaknesses, and we know theirs. They’re a good team but we’re feeling very positive. I think we can do it. Mentally, they might not be very stable right now because they recently lost a final in another tournament. It was probably more of a mental loss than a gameplay issue, so maybe we can take advantage of that and destabilize them a little. Play some mind games.”

Paper Tigers, however, were unable to hide their disappointment. “Their playstyle was mostly what we expected,” said Offlaner Chang “Freeze” Liu. “We just played too poorly ourselves. I think we were a bit nervous in this match and not relaxed enough. If we had played more calmly, it would have been better.”

Team Phoenix have had mixed fortunes so far in the tournament. The club, who admit they haven’t had as much pre-tournament preparation as their rivals, struggled on the first day before finding their form in their second match. Nigma Galaxy, on the other hand, started very strong with a starting victory only to be struggle in their battle against Win.

So, there was a lot of pride at stake as both teams took to the screens. Nigma Galaxy wasted little time and immediately roared into the lead, helped by an incredible performance by Omar “W33” Aliwi.

The second map held a similar story. Nigma Galaxy struck out early and held on to their advantage, never again looking under threat and wrapping everything up in just under an hour.

For Nigma Galaxy’s Offlaner Ivan MinD_ContRoL Ivanov, the result was a welcome return to form although he says the team still has a lot of work to do.

“The strategy didn’t really change. What changed was that we talked openly about our problems, especially team discipline,” he said. “Yesterday, we lacked discipline, possibly due to stage pressure. Today, we fixed that. It’s still something we need to work on, but everyone was more focused and serious. We played aggressively in both games – through the Midlane we gained a big advantage in levels, gold, and damage. That made a big difference.”

Today’s win means more than a team victory, however. It means Nigma’s next match is against Vikings, whose veteran player, Henrik Per Karl “AdmiralBulldog” Ahnberg, he will be playing against for the first time – and who has been a longtime hero.

“He was one of my Offlane idols when I started playing, so facing him is exciting. I’m not sure if I’m going to be nervous. Once I’m in the game, I’ll know, but for now I feel calm. But I do really want to beat them!”

For Team Phoenix’s DooYoung "DuBu" Kim, today’s performance was bittersweet.

“In our first match, one of their picks worked really well and that surprised us a bit and I wasn’t completely happy with my hero in that game. The biggest positive is that Noa “MP” Pyo and I found good heroes that suited us. He hasn’t played Dota professionally for a long time, but we identified heroes where we could win our lane and still have a strong impact. I’m very happy about that.”

With the group stage now complete, all attention moves to the semi-finals tomorrow (Wednesday 17 December) when after four days of hard-fought competition we’ll discover the two teams who will be battling it out for the phygital championship on Thursday 18.

First up will be the two “Losers Round’ play-offs before Vikings take on Nigma Galaxy in the first semi-final, followed by Win against TpaBoTeam.

The finish line is in sight and you can watch the action live from 10:00 GST time on tv.gofuture.games, the new streaming hub and digital home for live broadcasts, replays, highlights, and exclusive behind-the-scenes content spanning all disciplines at GOTF 2025.