While it’s true that the year is coming to a close, there’s still some Esports content left as far as Dota 2 goes. Starting all the way back in 2013, DreamLeague has a lot of history tied to it, and it has accompanied Dota 2 and its fanbase through plenty of highs and lows over the years. Season 27 actually includes some interesting changes, which have been widely received as positive among the current playerbase. Dota as a whole is in the middle of a long wait for a new patch, but the state of the game remains decently well balanced.
The tournament kicks off on the 10th of this December, so there’s still a good chunk of time left to take a look at the history of DreamLeague, the current lineup, and some of the changes that Season 27 has made to the format of things. Whether you’re a longtime fan, tuning in for the first time, or someone who might want to bet on Dota 2 - DreamLeague Season 27, it’s sure to offer a fun experience to all those who might be interested in watching and/or analyzing the matches to come.
The recent change to the DreamLeague format
For Season 27, DreamLeague is taking a considerably different approach to the way they’re deciding which teams do and don’t get to participate in the tournament. A set of 11 teams has been invited to the tournament with no additional work necessary in order to qualify. These teams consist of those that have performed well enough as of late for DreamLeague to have put their full trust in their performance. The full list consists of: Aurora Gaming, BetBoom, HEROIC, Nigma Galaxy, PARIVISION, Team Falcons, Team Liquid, Team Spirit, Tundra Esports, Xtreme Gaming, and OG. Talon Esports was also invited, but will not participate.
This list of “invited” teams does not make up the full list of teams that will participate in DreamLeague Season 27. This is due to the way that DreamLeague is conducting things this time around. They decided to hold two special “Division 2” mini tournaments in October and November respectively, and selected five teams that performed the best in them to compete in the upcoming main tournament. Additionally, some teams were chosen based on separate closed qualifiers, such as big name Natus Vincere, who won the Western Europe Closed Qualifier, or Yakult Brothers, who won the China Closed Qualifier.
Altogether, these teams make up the 24 team tournament that will be played out in the newest edition of DreamLeague. The tournament format is a Swiss system group stage double elimination bracket, which sounds kind of complicated, but there are thankfully plenty of resources online to clarify the look of the tournament, and graphics to fully convey the plan on which teams will fight when. These are additionally helpful to those who might be looking at getting into betting on the upcoming DreamLeague tournament through Stake.com.
A look at the current team lineup for DreamLeague Season 27
Plenty of teams have either been invited or earned their spot in this Season’s DreamLeague, but some do stand out as favorites among the bunch. There are definitely some heavy hitters, and the current meta is also sure to shift the balance in certain teams’ favour.
PARIVISION
PARIVISION is a team that’s definitely in one of the most interesting situations that a team can be right now. As a team, they’ve shown nothing but excellent results, with plenty of strong finishes throughout 2024 and 2025. They were somewhat of an unknown and an underdog, only joining Dota 2 esports a few years ago. However, they’ve proven themselves as a force to be reckoned with, even winning DreamLeague Season 26 and finishing a more than respectable 3rd place in the most recent iteration of The International.
However, the team has come under some controversy, and has definitely reorganized itself between TI 2025 and now. Their coach, Filipe “Astini” Ribeiro has just decided to leave the team entirely, expressing doubts over many aspects of the team as a whole. Astini was a very likable person among the team and among fans, but he made his choice to leave as well as to hold a live stream in which he delved further into the reasoning behind his seemingly sudden decision to do so.
To summarize, Astini felt that he was losing a grip on the team throughout the drafts, and felt that he wasn’t really given much of a decision. As a coach, drafts are understandably important, and to him, it was reason enough to depart the team entirely. While it seems that Astini and PARIVISION didn’t part ways on the best of terms, he did make sure to emphasize the fact that none of the players on the current roster are to blame for the situation at hand. According to him, there wasn’t any excessive toxicity from any of them that could have influenced his decision. This is important because it’s known that Astini and the Ukrainian player “Noone” didn’t always see eye to eye within the team.
Overall, PARIVISION has an uphill battle ahead of them, and it’ll be interesting to see how this influences their immediate results, as well as those to come in the mid to distant future. Some have decreed it as the end of PARIVISION’s streak of good results, but only time will tell.
BetBoom Team
BetBoom (officially “BetBoom Team”) is a group that is looking to prove itself after a rough TI 2025. While it’s true that they managed to tumble themselves up to a respectable 4th place by the end of it, the team was obviously struggling, leading to the semi recent benching of Pure from the active roster. Many agree that Pure just simply didn’t bring his best to this year’s TI, and dragged the team down from where it could have potentially been at the end of the tournament. Many noticed that the team was heavily being carried by players Save and GPK, while the aforementioned Pure actually provided some lowlights, such as his back to back TPS onto wards in the enemy jungle with Furion.
Despite the mistakes that were made, Pure still found a new home in Tundra Esports where he’ll presumably pick himself up and continue on into a more successful Dota 2 career. GPK and Save will hopefully bring their A game once again, and if the rest of the team follows, we could see a very strong BetBoom make a break for the win in DreamLeague Season 27. Of course, we’ll have to wait and see, but they’re definitely in the “favorites” category for this season.
Team Falcons
Team Falcons is a team created by an organization with a decent amount of history in the world of Esports. Originally going by the name of Falcons Esports, the Saudi organization has dabbled in the world of Dota dating all the way back to 2020 when they fielded Dota 2 rosters in local Saudi tournaments, but the current iteration of its Dota 2 team only came to fruition in late 2023. That makes it one of the most recently formed teams to compete in DreamLeague Season 27, but it’s one that has a massive amount of funding and name recognition behind it. Their standout achievement in 2025 was achieving first place through a 3 to 2 result in The International of this year. Additionally, they’re no strangers to DreamLeague, having won the 22nd, 23rd, and 24th seasons of the event throughout the entirety of 2024.
The DreamLeague wins, combined with a frenzy of other good results, landed them in an incredibly strong position, and they’re undoubtedly a top team, as well as an obvious favorite to secure yet another DreamLeague win under their belts. The team is believed, though not confirmed, to have received funding directly from the Saudi Royal Family. Whether these rumors prove true or not, nobody can doubt both the generous funding the team receives, as well as the raw talent that its players show while in play.
Xtreme Gaming
Founded in China and fielded by Chinese and Malay players, Xtreme has shown off some of the best gameplay that competitive Dota 2 has recently seen. They’ve won plenty of local tournaments in their time as a team since 2021, and have even seen a more than impressive amount of success this year during TI. While they were incredibly close to winning it all this year, things just ultimately didn’t work out for Xtreme, and they lost the finals to the aforementioned Team Falcons in a hard fought 2 to 3 loss. Regardless, they’ve shown themselves as a formidable team, and wrap up the list of the favorite teams that will be talked about here.
As a team, they’re confirmed to be participating in the upcoming DreamLeague tournament, and after such a heartbreaking result, many expect them to really give their all this time around. Definitely a team to watch, with some of China and Malaysia’s best and fiercest talent on display.
Additional teams
The tournament consists of 24 teams, and while there isn’t enough time to cover all of them in detail, some are worth mentioning in addition to the ones already spoken about. It’s a big tournament, and you never know when an underdog might swoop in and get a taste of victory. Also, it never hurts to stay educated on the current team situation.
There are plenty of teams that have also received invites to DreamLeague Season 27 free of charge (in addition to the four previously mentioned), and notable examples include Team Liquid, who were the reigning champions of TI, winning in 2024. Additionally, they’re no strangers to winning TI as an organization, having won in 2017 and having come very close to victory in 2018, 2019, and 2022. This is all to emphasize how embarrassing their showing was for TI 2025, where they were eliminated from the tournament fair and square, never even getting the chance to play in front of a crowd. It was a stunning and ultimately crushing defeat for TL, but they’ve shown to still be quite talented, and they’re a team to watch out for in DreamLeague Season 27.
Natus Vincere (or as many know them, “NAVI”), also qualified for DreamLeague Season 27. A veteran team in Dota esports, NAVI still obviously has what it takes, having fought their way through a closed qualifier to be here. They’re notable due to the fact that they’ve completely replaced their entire active roster as of July 2025. The new roster seems to be serving them considerably well, and they’re another team that should have attention paid to it going into the coming tournament.
Team Spirit is also a notable example, due to their recent success in tournaments such as the Esports World Cup 2025 mega tournament. Esports World Cup 2025 included a huge number of games, with Dota 2 being among them. They notably won in the finals against home team Team Falcons, taking home the victory and $1 million worth of prize money.
Finally, Amaru Gaming, having hilariously competed under the name “Chimpanzini Bananini” in the South America Closed Qualifier, are a South American team who are new to the scene and looking to prove themselves. Since the name changed to something more serious and acceptable, Amaru have secured themselves a spot in DreamLeague Season 27, and have already put out the exact roster that they will use for the event. It’s the same roster they used to place first in the qualifier in the first place, and the team is worth taking a look into, and seeing if the qualifier win was just a fluke, or the beginning of something greater for this young team.
All in all, DreamLeague Season 27 is shaping up to be an exciting tournament, and plenty of teams from all over the globe are expected to participate. No matter where you are in the world, you’ll probably be sure to find a team, or at least a few players, to put your support behind and cheer for.