PGL Wallachia Season 5 recap and analysis

Dota 2 esports in 2025 is heating up, with teams gaining momentum and preparing for the upcoming Esports World Cup. PGL Wallachia Season 5 returned to Bucharest from June 21–29, featuring 16 invited teams competing offline at the PGL Studio for a share of the $1 million prize pool.

Team Liquid entered the event as the two-time defending champions, having claimed victory in both Season 3 and Season 4. While the organisation is looking for a historic hat trick, there are many top contenders who are gearing up to challenge their streak. Let’s recap and analyse the event, including the hero trends and a dominant run from an unexpected team.

PGL Wallachia Season 5 continues its format of a modified group stage, where 16 teams have to win three games to move on to the playoffs. Every match is a best-of-three series, and teams will face teams with the same standing as them. All teams were invited to the event, and there was no SEA region representation despite their presence last season.

There was no surprise about the final eight teams that made it to the playoffs, but there were many individual games that almost led to a series upset. Team Spirit and Gaimin Gladiators were the first teams to qualify for the playoffs, going undefeated in the group stages. 

GG made a statement and cruised through their groups without dropping a single map. The team hasn’t looked this good since their second-place finish in FISSURE Universe: Episode 4 back in March. While Spirit showed weakness by losing a game to Wildcard, NAVI, and was on the brink of defeat from losing a map against Edge.

Natus Vincere, Aurora Gaming, and Team Liquid all qualify for the playoffs with only a series loss. This is the main NAVI roster last tournament before the Junior squad replaces them, and they’re all putting up impressive performances before becoming free agents. TL is the defending champions for PGL Wallachia Season 4, but they aren’t playing in full force because their hard support, Insania, is absent, calling in Tobi as a stand-in.

Xtreme Gaming, Tundra Esports, and BetBoom Team were the final esports teams to qualify on the final day of the group stages. Tundra lost the second game against Wildcard but dominated them in their last game. XG closed out a 61-minute game against HEROIC, and BetBoom clawed their way out of a close series against Tidebound.

For the teams that didn’t qualify, Wildcard showed that North American Dota 2 is here to compete, taking games from Spirit and Tundra. Edge picked up legendary icon Puppey and Parker to stand in and started with a 2-1 series against BetBoom, but failed to pick up any wins against Spirit, Tundra, and HEROIC. 

Tidebound had unlucky matchups and lost to the top three placing teams of the tournament: Gaimin Gladiators, Team Liquid, and BetBoom. Nigma Galaxy exited the tournament early despite their high placement in DreamLeague 26.

Gaimin Gladiators continue their streak by making it to the grand finals with a clean record, only dropping a single map against Tundra. GG sent Tundra, Xtreme Gaming, and old rivals Team Liquid down to the Lower Bracket during their run. Quinn ran the last two games against Tundra using Shadow Fiend, and his next opponents didn’t allow that to happen again by banning the hero.

The other grand finalist, BetBoom, had a rough run towards the grand finals. After winning their series 2-0 against Team Spirit, BB was knocked to the Lower Bracket in their series loss against Team Liquid. BetBoom stayed resilient and had an incredible Lower Bracket run, starting with two high kill wins against NAVI, who just eliminated Tundra Esports.

Next, BetBoom and Spirit meet again in the Lower Bracket Semifinal. Team Spirit was coming in hot from two wins against Aurora Gaming and Xtreme Gaming, beating both without any map losses. Spirit started with a commanding presence but were outclassed in the last two games, losing 2-1. Gpk and Pure both drop nine kills each in their win and then 16 kills each in the last round.

BetBoom moves on to the Upper Bracket Final against Team Liquid, defending champions of PLG Wallachia Season 4 and 5. Insania was able to play in the first three series of the playoffs, but had to leave because of health issues. NAVI’s Ari (on loan from OG) was brought in as a last-minute replacement. Liquid lost control of their lead in the first game and was stomped out in the second game, losing against their opponents, who racked up 37 kills and a 25k networth difference.

Gaimin Gladiators came into the grand finals without contest, eager to prove they can win a tournament after kicking star carry dyrachyo last year. Despite that, BetBoom were the favourites to win because of their resilient matches in their lower bracket run. This is BB’s second consecutive finals, placing second in DreamLeague 26 after losing 3-0 to their rivals PARIVISION, who were absent from the tournament.

This is Gaimin Gladiators and BetBoom’s second time meeting in the grand finals in 2025. BB swept GG 3-0 in FISSURE Universe: Episode 4, outright outclassing them with three high kill games. GG also lost against them in their next head-to-head in DreamLeague 26, losing 2-1, even without their hard carry, Pure.

Game 1: BB Team wins, 39:59 minutes.

BetBoom made a strong first impression in their opening match of the best-of-five. BB led the early game, but Gaimin was able to take control with coordinated counter-initiations. However, a fatal mistake happened in 31 minutes when GG committed to an extremely long chase on Kataomi’s Bane. The game went downhill for GG after that and ended with Save’s Rubick demoralising them by diving their fountain with a stolen Borrowed Time.

Game 2: BB Team wins, 30:26 minutes.

BetBoom showed the difference between the two teams with a stomp that ended with 41 kills and a 27k networth difference. There was no answer to gpk’s Puck in this game, who ended the game with 17 eliminations and one death, as no heroes on GG’s side could catch him with a reliable lockdown. Puck was free-hitting all game while Pure’s Templar Assassin cleaned up the rest.

Game 3: GG wins, 53:51 minutes.

Gaimin Gladitors wakes up and wins over BB in a close game over 53 minutes. However, their win wasn’t convincing enough and foreshadowed the end. BB’s draft was made to pick off targets with heroes like Batrider, Beastmaster, and Shadow Shaman, so they were always setting the pace of the fight with smoke rotations. 

However, GG had the perfect draft to counter their fast engagements. Abaddon, Dark Willow, and especially Malady’s Tinker were working overtime to help Leshrac and Templar Assassin survive the initial jump from their opponents. Pure’s Lifestealer was losing steam towards the end as he couldn’t fight properly against the myriad of sustain and crowd control.

Game 4: BB series win, 65:13 minutes.

Gaimin Gladiators and BetBoom give the audience what they want with an incredible 65-minute game. BB was hungry for the win and made constant aggressive rotations during the mid-game. MieRo’s Axe took over the game, finding dunk after dunk as Kataomi’s Silencer kept GG under control with Global Silence.

BetBoom was in control the whole game, always ahead of their opponents by 30 kills and more than 20k networth. GG was able to extend the game with excellent high ground defence and committing buybacks to the right fights, wiping BetBoom multiple times. They brought the game close by taking two sets of racks and exposing BB’s throne, but weren’t able to close out the game-deciding fight.

BetBoom stormed up to end the game after taking Roshan 64 minutes into the game. Save lands a crucial Flaming Lasso on Quinn’s Puck, and here’s where one of the biggest misplays of professional Dota 2 happens. Ace’s Vengeful Spirit swaps their Doom, who wasn’t in immediate danger, instead of Puck. Whether that’s a misclick or a misplay, Ace chooses to save the Doom who had buyback, and not Puck with no buyback available. 

After a scrappy, chaotic teamfight, BetBoom destroyed Gaimin Gladiator’s throne, winning the tournament and taking home $300,000. Pure gives a shoutout for dyrachyo as Radiant’s ancient explodes, and Quinn is nowhere to be found for the final handshake.

PGL Wallachia Season 5 was played on two patches: 7.39b and 7.39c. The latest patch saw small nerfs to strong heroes like Axe, Batrider, Death Prophet, and Shadow Shaman, but the balance adjustments were too insignificant to tone down their effectiveness.

Batrider was the most contested hero of PGL Wallachia Season 5, picked and mostly banned in 98% of the games. The reliable initiator received a glowup in the major 7.39 patch, receiving two reworked Facets. He’s a valuable flex pick that can excel in any position, whether support or core, and still provide the impactful Flaming Lasso to drag key targets away.

Death Prophet joins the most contested club at a 93% contest rate. However, she was rarely seen in the tournament, winning six of her nine appearances. Teams didn’t want to deal with her area of effect silence and nuking spirits, making her the most banned hero of the tournament. Undying is also another highly contested hero despite their low number of games played.

PGL Wallachia’s format creates intense, high-stakes games, as every series matters. Season 5 witnessed many series sweeps, but there were many hard-fought games within those matches that are worth watching again.

The teams in the tournament have proven that the mental game is equally important. Remaining resilient can lead to comebacks that weren’t thought possible.

BetBoom breaks Team Liquid’s two-time championship streak and wins PGL Wallachia Season 5. Their incredible lower bracket run more than makes up for their middling standing during the group stages. Meanwhile, Gaimin Gladiators found their stride and showed that they can compete with their dominant tournament run.

There have been incredible comebacks in many games from different teams in this esports tournament. More than anything, this event proves that until the ancient has been destroyed, the game isn’t over.