Tundra Esports Win ESL One Fall 2021

Dota 2 esports team, Tundra Esports, won ESL One Fall 2021 without dropping a series in the playoffs. The European team made it past some of the best Dota 2 teams in the world and solidified themselves as one of the top teams in the region.

An Unbeaten Run

Tundra Esports entered the tournament as one of the outsiders, but they didn’t need long to make their presence known. The European roster ended the group stage play in second place with an impressive 4-0-1 record.

They won against T1 (2-0), Thunder Predator (2-0), Team Spirit (2-0), and Creepwave (2-0). Tundra Esports’ only loss happened against the ESL One Summer 2021 finalists Virtus.pro (0-2).

By finishing top-two in Group A, Tundra Esports secured a direct bye into the upper bracket of the playoffs. There they met with beastcoast, who proved to be no match for the European squad.

While many expected a close series, Tundra Esports proved just how much better they are. The Europeans went on a tear and crushed the Peruvian squad 2-0, needing just 25 and 40 minutes to close out the two maps, respectively.

Tundra’s run, however, didn’t end there. In the second round of the playoffs, Tundra Esports met with an old foe, Virtus.pro, who won against PSG.LGD two days prior.

Having already lost to Virtus.pro during the group stage, Tundra Esports were expected to struggle. However, Jingjun “Sneyking” Wu and co. once again proved all the doubters wrong and won the series with a convincing 2-0 sweep.

They won the first match with 40-9 in kills and a 19.7k net gold lead. The second map was just as one-sided, ending with 27-9 in kills and a 22.8k net gold lead advantage for the European side.

Close But Convincing Win In Finals

After beating every team in their path during the playoffs, Tundra Esports reached the finals, where they met with PSG.LGD. The Chinese Dota 2 esports giants had to fight through the lower bracket after losing their opener against Virtus.pro.

In the lower bracket, PSG.LGD made it past Team Spirit (2-1), T1 (2-1), and Virtus.pro (2-1), who they beat in the lower bracket finals. Despite their shaky showings throughout the tournament, PSG.LGD were expected to give Tundra a run for their money, and that’s exactly what they did.

Tundra Esports took the series lead with a strong performance on map one, winning 43-9 in kills. Tundra were the dominant team from the get-go and had the game in their hands since the five-minute mark.
However, despite their impressive performance in game one, Tundra met tough resistance in games two and three. PSG.LGD fought back and won the next two games, and reclaimed the series lead at 2-1.

Despite falling behind, Tundra weren’t ready to give up. They stepped up in game four forced game five thanks to excellent performances of Leon “Nine” Kirilin and Oliver “skiter” Lepko.

The duo combined 31 kills, 98k damage over the series and more than 60k net worth. Their impressive performances carried over into the final map, where the pair once again outperformed the entire PSG.LGD roster.
The final map of the series started in favor of PSG.LGD who took control and led for the first 20 minutes. But Tundra played a long game, remained patient, and played around their strengths.

On the wings of other heroic performances of skiter and Nine, Tundra Esports regained the lead and cruised to a comfortable win to seal the series at 3-2.

A Long Break Ahead

By winning the ESL One Fall 2021, Tundra Esports pocketed $175,000 in tournament winnings and further solidified themselves as one of the best teams in the region. But, despite their success, we won’t be seeing Tundra at The International 10.

The European side have missed out on qualifying for the season-culminating event. Since there are not Dota 2 tournament scheduled for October, Tundra now have plenty of time to prepare themselves for the 2022 season.

Tundra Esporta are currently ranked no.24 in the ESL World Rankings. That ranks them as the 6th best European team, behind Vikin.gg, OG, Team Liquid, Alliance, and Team Nigma.