MOBA PC.Dota 2 Kicks Off at the Games of the Future Abu Dhabi 2025 Powered by ADNOC

The MOBA PC.Dota 2 competition burst into life at the Games of the Future Abu Dhabi 2025 powered by ADNOC on Sunday 14 December, as all eight elite teams kicked off their campaigns in the opening round of group stage matches.

Played in a LAN environment and contested in a best-of-three format, day one brought intense matches, major turning points, and high drama as every team looked to grab an early advantage. The opening games showed the depth, intensity, and tactical sharpness that has come to define top-tier Dota 2 competition.

However, some teams felt the pressure more than others and ultimately the victors were the ones who held their nerves. Ultimately all four matches ended in a clean 2-0 sweep for the winning teams

Four group stage matches opened the competition, with all the action taking place live at Pixoul Gaming in Abu Dhabi:

• Match 1
  E7 vs Paper Tigers
• Match 2
  TpaBoTeam vs Vikings
• Match 3
  Nigma Galaxy vs Legends Rebooted
• Match 4
  Win vs Team Phoenix

Host city club E7 were hoping to make their mark on local territory but it was not to be as the legendary China-based Paper Tigers closed out the match in just 56 minutes. Not surprisingly, there was a strong performance from Paper Tigers player Zhilei BurNIng Xu, one of the most legendary carry players in Dota history. But E7 remain positive despite the result.

“Yes, we lost our first match but that what this competition is about – you win some, you lose some,” said Coach Mohammed bin Ahmed. “As long as you learn from your mistakes, it’s fine. We learn from our mistakes, and we will change some strategies – we go from here.”

Vikings have come into this tournament as strong favorites to take the title and showed exactly why they shouldn’t be underestimated with an impressive performance – although TpaBoTeam put up strong resistance in what turned out to be the longest match of the day.

Nevertheless, Midlaner Timur TpaBoMaH Khafizov was disappointed in the result and thinks the team from Russia have got a lot more in them.

“We played really bad to be honest,” he admitted afterwards. “For the second game, we did make a comeback but then messed up with our buttons. Maybe we should’ve stuck together as five when they were smoked and we were in the triangle. We could’ve also escaped better than we did. But we know what we must do – analyze our mistakes, identify where we’re failing and draw the right conclusions.”

On paper, this looked like it was going to be the thriller of the day with two very well-known teams, equally matched and a history of strong play on both sides. In the end, however, it turned into perhaps the most one-sided contest of the day, finishing in just 45 minutes. In fact, the first half was over in 17½ mins.

Nigma Galaxy’s Offlaner Ivan MinD_ContRoL Ivanov said he was actually surprised that Legends didn’t put up more of a fight.

“Our opponents, didn’t seem to be ready for us for some reason. I felt like they should have prepared better, but they didn't and that's why the games were so easy. We prepared really well; everyone was calm and there were no technical issues. We have two players that don't have much experience, Elias Bashar Nagato- Moh'd Alhaj Ali and Bader Ashraf Badri islA Hannoun Abu Samaha, but they really performed. They are very new to LAN experience – this might even have been their first. We need to keep playing to our strengths. We can’t underestimate any opponent, and we need to just improve game by game.”

Another surprise came in the final match-up of the day. Team Phoenix, based in South Korea, boasts a line-up of quite a few Dota 2 legends while CIS-based Win is the youngest side in the tournament. However, Team Phoenix hasn’t played in a while and it showed as the youngsters raced to victory in 68 minutes. The contest would have ended even sooner, but Win wanted to enjoy their moment in the spotlight and decided to take their time in closing out the match.

“It was a young generation against not such a young generation”, said Win’s Ivan OneJey Zhyvitski. “We’ve been playing a lot more and that made the difference.”

“In the end they were the stronger team and we weren’t as well prepared,” admitted Team Phoenix’s Midlaner
Sun Yeob QO Kim.

The group stage continues tomorrow with another round of high-stakes action, beginning with E7 facing TpaBoTeam as both teams look to rebound and stay in contention, followed by Legends Rebooted taking on Team Phoenix in another decisive best-of-three. The focus then shifts to the upper bracket as early front-runners collide, with Paper Tigers meeting Vikings in a clash of unbeaten sides, before the day concludes with Nigma Galaxy facing Win in a final showdown that could shape the top of the group at the Games of the Future Abu Dhabi 2025 powered by ADNOC.

Watch all matches live via 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.