Dota 2: Team Falcons win their second-straight championship this year at DreamLeague Season 22 with 3-0 sweep over BetBoom Team

Team Falcons have staked their claim as Dota 2's team to beat for 2024 after they claimed the championship of DreamLeague Season 22 after they capped off a dominant 28-7 run throughout the entire tournament with a sound 3-0 sweep over BetBoom Team in the Grand Finals on Monday (11 March).

With their victory, Falcons claimed the grand prize of US$300,000 out of the event's US$1 million prize pool. In addition, they earned 300 ESL Pro Tour (EPT) points, which will go towards earning a spot at this year's Riyadh Masters — which has become the biggest Dota 2 event in terms of prize money over the past year.

This also marks the second-straight championship for Falcons this year after they won BetBoom Dacha Dubai 2024, which notably ended with Falcons scoring a 3-0 sweep over Team Liquid in the Grand Finals, in mid-February.

While Falcons ultimately won DreamLeague Season 22, they did not have the best start to the tournament. In Group Stage 1, they only finished second in Group A with a 9-5 record behind BetBoom, who had the best record of that stage at 10-4.

Falcons then hit their stride in Group Stage 2, topping the standings with a 14-1 record to earn one of four spots in the Playoffs. Joining them were BetBoom (11-8), Team Spirit (9-9), and Xtreme Gaming (10-9).

Falcons and BetBoom had their first clash of the Playoffs in the upper bracket finals, where the eventual champions pulled off a 2-1 reverse sweep to become the first team in the Grand Finals. BetBoom then swept Xtreme Gaming, 2-0, in the lower bracket finals to earn a rematch with Falcons for the championship.

While Falcons ended up sweeping the Grand Finals, BetBoom made them work for it as all three games lasted at least 46 minutes with games two and three even running just shy of the hour-mark.

Falcons were quick to assert their dominance in game one, dominating BetBoom to the tune of a 20-8 kill lead in a 46-minute rout. Leading the way for Falcons were midlaner Stanislav "Malr1ne" Potorak on Primal Beast, who had a clean five kills and six assists, and team captain Wu "Sneyking" Jingjun on Shadow Demon, who also had five kills to go with 13 assists against two deaths.

Game two was another one-sided affair, but BetBoom were able to stall things out to 59 minutes before they were forced to call GG. Malr1ne had another show-stopping performance, this time on Pangolier, to give his team a commanding 2-0 series lead by racking up 11 kills and 13 assists on two deaths out of Falcons' 32-24 kill lead.

Oliver "skiter" Lepko on Gyrocopter pitched in with 10 kills and 13 assists on four deaths while Ammar "ATF" Al-Assaf on Doom was instrumental in winning key teamfights despite his ho-hum seven-kill, 17-assist, and eight-death line.

Much like the previous game, game three saw Falcons blitz into an early lead before being forced to a 58-minute grindfest as BetBoom's Danil "gpk" Skutin put up a valiant performance in a vain attempt to prevent the 3-0 sweep.

ATF was the difference-maker in the closeout game, showcasing his mastery with his signature Mars pick by repeatedly shutting down BetBoom during clashes and finishing with 10 kills and 22 assists on two deaths.

Meanwhile, skiter on Sven and Malr1ne on Lina dished out the damage and paced their team's 38-26 kill lead. Skiter had a game-high 13 kills and 14 assists on seven deaths while Malr1ne put up 12 kills and 18 assists against six deaths. Andreas "Cr1t-" Nielsen on Batrider also had a phenomenal performance from the sidelines with two kills and a game-high 29 assists on six deaths.

With Falcons taking home the US$300,000 grand prize, BetBoom settled for US$175,000 and 3,500 EPT points in consolation.

Both Falcons and BetBoom also earned direct invites to DreamLeague Season 23 in May for their dominant performances in Season 22. They will be joined by fellow direct invitees Xtreme Gaming and Gaimin Gladiators as well as eight other teams coming from regional qualifiers.

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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