EWC 2025 Week 2 Recap: Dota, LoL, Free Fire, MWI champions claim victory

The second week of the Esports World Cup (EWC) 2025 delivered high drama and new champions across multiple titles. Fans in Riyadh witnessed grand finals in Dota 2, League of Legends, Free Fire, and the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Women’s Invitational (MWI). Week 2 also saw Honor of Kings group matches and Overwatch 2’s Last Chance Qualifier. 

After recapping the opening week’s action, it’s time to break down each game’s results for EWC 2025 week 2. We’ve got you covered on this week’s winners, runner-ups, upsets, and storylines to stay up to date with this massive event.

Team Spirit seized the Dota 2 crown at EWC 2025 with a flawless grand final performance. The Russian powerhouse swept hometown favourites Team Falcons 3–0 in Sunday’s final, capping an (almost) undefeated tournament run. 

Spirit dropped only a single map all tournament against Xtreme Gaming’s Ame on Juggernaut. Otherwise, they overpowered every opponent en route to the $3,000,000 top prize and 1,000 Club Championship points.

The champions were the only winners of the group stage to survive their opening match during the playoffs, as Aurora Gaming, BetBoom Team, and Team Liquid were the first to be eliminated. They swept Gaimin Gladiators 2-0 in their series, sending last year’s EWC winners packing.

Next, they also swept one of their rivals and tournament favourites, PARIVISION, earning their spot in the grand finals. Offlaner Collapse snatched the Aegis twice away from their opponents in their second game. Meanwhile, hometown team Falcons also swept their series against Team Liquid and Tundra Esports, culminating in an 80-minute chaotic game.

PARIVISION and Tundra went on to fight for third place as there’s no lower bracket in this format, where the former came out on top.

The grand final itself saw Spirit’s star cores Yatoro and Collapse outclass Falcons in every game. Not only did they sweep their opponents, they dominated them so much that Falcons weren’t able to take a single tier two tower in three games. Game 2 even saw Yatoro’s Medusa and Larl’s Storm Spirit finish with no deaths. 

This is Team Spirit’s second win in the tournament, taking their first victory 3-1 against Team Liquid when it was formerly known as the Riyadh Masters. Collapse deservedly earned Sony’s MVP award, owing to his consistent performance with 13 different heroes in all his games.

EWC’s meta mirrored the trends of recent tournaments, where Shadow Shaman, Batrider, and Doom remain as strong first picks. Heroes who can carry the busted Blademail were popular, like Queen of Pain and Axe, while the Sister Shroud neutral was a favourite pick-up in the tournament.

Finally, Nature’s Prophet saw a ridiculous 75% winrate across 24 games, and Naga Siren was the most banned hero of the tournament at 80 times. 

The League of Legends tournament culminated in a spectacular five-game grand final, where South Korea’s Gen.G Esports narrowly defeated China’s surprising finalist AG.AL to claim the EWC 2025 title. The tournament used Riot’s Fearless Draft rule that prevents teams from using the same champion across multiple games in a series, as debuted in the First Stand tournament.

Gen.G came into the tournament hot off their recent MSI win and lived up to their hype, sweeping FlyQuest 2-0 then G2 Esports 2-1 in the playoffs. Anyone’s Legend (AG.AL) had a close opening 2-1 series against Hanwha Life, but gained confidence after a 2-0 series against reigning Worlds’ champions, T1. In the third-place decider, T1 manages to secure a clean series win over G2.

In the grand finals, Gen.G Esports won the first two games, putting them on the brink of a sweep. Ruler’s Varus made a statement in the first game with six kills and no deaths. Game 2 saw another high kill, no death record from Ruler and Chovy, but Kiin’s Ambessa was instrumental in keeping their backline busy.

AG.AL refused to go quietly in the final. They unleashed aggressive, fast-paced drafts in Games 3 and 4 to claw the series back to 2–2. Game 3 saw Hope hard carrying with his 8-0 Sivir, turning around a teamfight with a numbers disadvantage. Game 4 was a tense, even game between the two finalists. But a flawless teamfight from AG.AL ended with their whole team alive, allowing them to march down the Nexus.

For a moment, the Chinese underdogs seemed poised to complete a reverse sweep and dethrone Gen.G. But in the decisive Game 5, Mid laner Chovy piloted his signature Twisted Fate to dictate the final game’s outcome, pressuring objectives alongside Canyon’s Skarner. After a clean teamfight near Baron, Gen.G goes straight for the win.

With that, Gen.G sealed a 3–2 victory, lifting the trophy and taking home $600,000 of the $2 million prize pool plus 1,000 EWC Club points. It was a redemptive moment for Gen.G after falling short in last year’s EWC.

Gen.G ends this tournament with a 26-game win streak. Top laner Kiin received Sony’s MVP award for his performance throughout the tournament.

Free Fire at EWC Week 2 delivered one of the most nail-biting finales of the tournament. Indonesia’s EVOS Divine emerged as world champions after a marathon 10-round Grand Final that came down to the very last game. The battle royale’s championship format meant that squads needed to reach 80 match points that would make them eligible for a win.

Twelve teams entered the grand finals, where Thailand’s Buriram United Esports took the first game. The following games were won by AG.AL, EVOS Divine, AL.GL again, LOS, and Team Vitality. By game 6, EVOS Divine were eligible for a win.

Brazilian LOS (formerly Los Grandes) won a second time during game 7, but AG.AL secured enough points to reach match point. Team Vitality holds the line in game 8, denying EVOS Divine from their win. After game 8, RRQ Kazu and LOS both reached match point. 

In game 9, Free Fire’s EWC 2024 winners Team Falcons were able to sneak in a win, preventing RRQ Kazu from cashing in their match point. Team Vitality also scored enough for match point.

Going into the tenth and final game, six teams were eligible to take it all. In the last circle of the last game, EVOS outlasted both Vitality and Falcons, securing the final Booyah to cement their championship. They finished with 170 points total, edging out runner-up RRQ Kazu (123 points) and third-place Vitality (120). 

Star player Rasyah “Rasyah” Rasyid earned the MVP award for his aggressive play, helping his team score high kill games like in game 3 with 21 eliminations. The Indonesian team’s triumph was a redemption arc from their second-place finish in EWC 2024, earning them $300,000 and 1,000 club points. 

The Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Women’s Invitational (MWI) showcased a dominant championship run as Team Vitality bulldozed through the tournament without losing once. The French organisation (featuring an all-Indonesian roster) went on a perfect run that culminated in a decisive Grand Final victory over Gaimin Gladiators. 

Group A featured a stacked bracket comprised of Twisted Minds Orchid and Falcons Vega. But Team Vitality left unscathed, beating both teams to advance to the playoffs. Gaimin Gladiators had a rougher start in Group B, losing the match against Natus Vincere MY. But they showed resilience and clawed back a 2-1 win against Tidal Legends Gaming and another 2-1 victory in their rematch against NAVI MY.

In the playoffs, Gaimin Gladiators fought NAVI’s Philippine roster, winning 2-0, then claiming victory against Terror Queens 3-1 in the semi-finals. Meanwhile, Team Vitality breezed through their bracket, beating FUT Esports 2-0, then Team Liquid 3-0.

In a best-of-seven championship match, Vitality overpowered GG in a clean 4–0 sweep. This was a redemption arc for Vitality, who had missed out in 2024 after falling short in last year’s invitational. In 2024’s MLBB Women’s Invitational, the all-Filipina squad Smart Omega Empress were the grand finals winners over their squad.

Vitality claimed the MWI trophy and a $150,000 prize of the $500,000 prize pool, earning their club another 1,000 points. Vitality has firmly established itself as the team to beat in women’s Mobile Legends.

Week 2 at EWC 2025 also hosted the group stages of the Honor of Kings World Champion Cup (KWC), where 18 of the world’s best mobile MOBA teams battle to win. Last year, during the HoK’s invitational at Riyahd, KPL Dream Team, a squad of all-stars from different teams, won against Malaysian LGD Gaming.

Chinese teams AG.AL and TT Global have a head start on the competition and start in the playoffs, owing to their wins at the KPL Spring Champions and ACL Champions, respectively.

After several days of GSL-style group play (double-elimination groups), four teams emerged as group winners: WKS Spring champs Paws Gaming (Group A), Brazil champions Alpha7 Esports (Group B winner), MKL Spring winners Nova Esports (Group C), and World Cup Last Call winner OG (Group D). Each of those teams secured a slot in the playoffs.

The runner-up from each group earned one last shot in the Last Chance play-in round. This led to a best-of-five showcase where Team Vitality eliminated Gen.G 3-1, and Twisted Minds won with the same series score against Alpha Gaming.

With group stage done and the eight teams preparing their strats, the Honor of Kings tournament now enters Week 3’s playoffs, where the top teams will clash for the $3,000,000 prize pool. 

EWC Week 2 featured Overwatch 2 Champions Series Midseason Championship Last Chance Qualifier (OWCS LCQ for short), where one final spot at the upcoming Midseason Championship was up for grabs. Fourteen teams from around the world (primarily top contenders outside the Overwatch League) competed in Riyadh for this single slot. 

The LCQ began with a group stage that whittled the field down to eight semifinalists. Saudi Arabia’s Team Falcons, the reigning Overwatch World Cup champions and EWC 2024 third-place finishers, qualified with the help of the energy of the home crowd. 

They qualified for the next stage decisively by taking down Zeta Division with no losses. OWCS continues in week 4, where previous winners Crazy Raccoon are waiting with other strong teams.

Here’s what to expect in Week 2 of EWC 2025 (July 22–27 in Riyadh):

Tune in to ESI next week for our EWC Week 3 Recap for another round of events and storylines.