Dota 2: Team Falcons sweep BetBoom Team 3-0 to win ESL One Birmingham 2024, claim third championship this year

MENA-based Dota 2 juggernauts Team Falcons once again staked their claim as the best team in the world after they were crowned champions of ESL One Birmingham 2024 with a sound 3-0 sweep over BetBoom Team in the tournament's grand finals on Sunday (28 April).

With their victory, Falcons claimed the grand prize of US$300,000 out of the event's US$1 million prize pool. They also earned 6,400 ESL Pro Tour (EPT) points to go towards qualification for qualification to this year's Riyadh Masters — which has become the biggest annual Dota 2 event in terms of prize money over the past year.

This also marks Falcons' third championship this year after DreamLeague Season 22 in March and BetBoom Dacha Dubai 2024 in February.

Meanwhile, BetBoom settled for second place as well as US$175,000 and 4,800 EPT points in consolation. This was also the second time that they were swept by Falcons in a tournament's grand finals after DreamLeague Season 22.

Falcons continue run of dominance

Falcons entered ESL One Birmingham 2024 as one of the biggest favourites to claim the championship, a belief they reinforced with a strong start in the Group Stage.

Falcons, BetBoom, and Team Liquid all finished Group A with a 6-4 record, though Falcons claimed the top seed after winning tiebreakers and the head-to-head matchups. As a result, the team earned an upper bracket berth in the Playoffs alongside BetBoom while Liquid settled for a lower bracket start.

Despite their strong showing in the Group Stage, Falcons stumbled in the Playoffs after losing to Group B second seed Tundra Esports, 2-1, in the upper bracket semifinals.

That then dropped them to the lower bracket quarterfinals, where they survived their first elimination match with a 2-1 victory over Liquid. Falcons then scored another 2-1 victory over Group B top seed OG to advance to the lower bracket finals, which earned them a rematch against Tundra.

Falcons avenged their previous loss with a sound 2-0 sweep and advanced to the grand finals to face BetBoom, who earned their finals spot with victories over OG and Tundra.

While the grand finals ended up being a 2-0 sweep in Falcons' favour, BetBoom still managed to put up a considerable challenge and were actually leading for most of the first two games.

In game one, BetBoom were in control for the first 37 minutes of the finals opener before falling to a late game comeback by Falcons.

Despite finishing the game down 17-26 in kills, Falcons scored their first win of the series in 46 minutes behind Oliver "skiter" Lepko's Weaver and Stanislav "Malr1ne" Potorak's mid Razor. Skiter led the way with six kills and six assists on three deaths while Malr1ne had five kills and 10 assists on two deaths.

Game two was a similar story as BetBoom had the lead for 35 minutes before Falcons started pulling away by the late game. The eventual champions took a commanding 2-0 series after completing a 51-minute comeback win with a narrow 28-26 kill lead.

Skiter on Sven and Malr1ne on Primal Beast showed out once again, scoring seven kills apiece and combining for 26 assists on one and five deaths, respectively.

BetBoom seemingly ran out of gas by game three, as Falcons utterly dominated them to the tune of a 29-6 kill lead to claim the championship of ESL One Birmingham 2024 after a 40-minute stomp.

Malr1ne led Falcons past the finish line with an excellent 13-kill, six-assist performance on just one death. Ammar "ATF" Al-Assaf also showed out on his signature Mars pick and finished with seven kills and seven assists on one death.

Team Falcons Dota 2 roster:

1. Oliver "skiter" Lepko

2. Stanislav "Malr1ne" Potorak

3. Ammar "ATF" Al-Assaf

4. Andreas "Crit-" Nielsen

5. Wu "Sneyking" Jingjun

6. Kurtis "Aui_2000" Ling (coach)

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