Fourth time's the charm for Dota 2 esports – PGL Wallachia Season 4 preview

The fourth season of PGL Wallachia follows the well-known format of previous iterations, pitting the sixteen participating teams against one another in a big Swiss bracket, where five rounds are played, and three wins are required to progress to the playoffs, effectively halving the field over the course of the four days of group stage play. Every match in this opening portion of the tournament is a best-of-three affair, so don't expect the randomness of best-of-one stuff here, even in the first stage of the competition. The group stage will take place between April 19 and April 23.

As for the playoffs, it features a double-elimination bracket, where all teams are seeded into the upper bracket for the first round. This means every surviving team has a loss in their pocket and the safety cushion of the lower bracket, so no one is immediately starting the playoff stage fighting for their lives. The playoffs will run from April 24 to April 27 – and the crown jewel of the tournament, the grand final, will be a best-of-five barnburner to wrap things up in a truly spectacular fashion.

The teams and players will be competing for a cool million dollars, distributed along the following lines depending on where they finish in the competition:

• 1st place: $300,000
• 2nd place: $175,000
• 3rd place: $120,000
• 4th place: $80,000
• 5th-6th place: $60,000 each
• 7th-8th place: $40,000 each
• 9th-11th place: $20,000 each
• 12th-14th place: $15,000 each
• 15th-16th place: $10,000 each

Season 3 took place in early March, and the event was won by Team Liquid, who defeated Tundra Esports in the grand final, with Team Falcons rounding out the podium just ahead of Team Spirit. Here's how the final day of play shook out:

Season 5 will take place between November 15 and November 23, meaning there is still more action to come later in the year.

PGL Wallachia Season 4 opening matchups

• Aurora vs. Navi Junior
• Xtreme Gaming vs. Edge
• BetBoom Team vs. Team Tidebound
• PARIVISION vs. AVULUS
• Team Liquid vs. Nigma Galaxy
• Team Spirit vs. Shopify Rebellion
• Team Falcons vs. Talon Esports
• Tundra Esports vs. HEROIC

Which teams are participating at PGL Wallachia S4 and what can you expect from them?

The teams and players topping the Dota 2 rankings will all be partaking in the action during the fourth season of PGL Wallachia, but their recent form and performances mean that they took very different journeys on the road to PGL's studio. Here's what you need to know about them all, broken down on a team-by-team basis.

🇰🇷 @GenG SCORES A TRIPLE KILL! IS THIS THE END? 🔥 pic.twitter.com/7BAN3DdvS7

— LoL.Bo3.gg (@LoL_Bo3gg) October 20, 2024

PARIVISION

Directly invited to the event
(Satanic, No[o]ne-, DM, 9Class, Dukalis)

PARIVISION's decision to Crystallis and bring in Satanic is clearly beginning to bear fruit, and the perennial playoff contenders have established themselves as the top dogs in the form department with an impressive win at ESL One Raleigh 2025 – with a comprehensive win over Satanic's former team in the grand final, no less. The team isn't unbeatable by any stretch (having lost to Tundra Esports in the upper bracket before completing a lower bracket run), but they should be seen as one of the favorites going forward.

BetBoom Team

Directly invited to the event
(Pure, gpk, MieRo, Save-, Kataomi)

BetBoom Team finished last year in super-strong fashion but couldn't quite keep up the same level in the winter months of 2025, but a commanding win at FISSURE Universe: Episode 4 and a fourth-place finish in Raleigh bode well for a resurgence in form. Be sure to keep an eye out for them in Wallachia.

Team Falcons

Directly invited to the event
(skiter, Malr1ne, ATF, Cr1t-, Sneyking)

Love or hate the Falcons – and the controversies behind their founding and funding can be good reasons to do so – they have established themselves as one of the strongest Dota 2 teams over the course of 2024. It is a big part of why their struggles so far this year have been such a surprise – then again, it's the sort of "struggle" most teams would rip your hand off for, with deep playoff runs over and over again, but none of the trophy payoffs you'd hope for. A 5-6th finish in Raleigh serves as their direct prelude heading into this one, and even factoring in the stand-in situation with Quinn, form-wise, they are not the favorites this time around.

Team Liquid

Directly invited to the event
(miCKe, Nisha, SaberLight, Boxi, Insania)

Don't put too much stock in Liquid's poor Raleigh showing – with Nisha missing in action, the event was pretty much a free hit for the TI2024 winners. They are the Season 3 winners, after all – but it bears noting that it's been their only title tilt so far this year, with a string of consistent early playoff exits punctuating their year, which is a far cry from the form that saw them win The International last year.

AVULUS

Directly invited to the event
(Smiling Knight, Xibbe, SoNNeikO, TBD, TBD)

AVULUS still have an unknown quantity to them, especially with their recent roster changes. The org as a whole is fairly new to Dota 2 esports, and their team has posted some impressive results in qualifiers and lower-level competitions over the second half of 2024, but stability is in short supply. Stormstormer and Ekki were let go on March 21, so the team played ESL One Raleigh with two stand-ins: Mo13ei and dEsire. They barely made it out of the groups there and left no mark on the playoffs – depending on how the personnel things shake out, a similar outcome may very well be on the cards for PGL Wallachia Season 4 as well.

Tundra Esports

Directly invited to the event
(Crystallis, bzm, 33, Saksa, Whitemon)

The core of Tundra remains extremely formidable, and they got off to a great start with their new roster with two consecutive big event wins after dyracho and bzm were added to the team. However, dyracho has decided to take a break from active competition just a few weeks ago, forcing Tundra to draft Crystallis instead as a replacement. A third-place finish at ESL One Raleigh was a decent outing, and Tundra will no doubt be there or thereabouts but don't be surprised if their performances are a notch below what you got to see earlier in the year.

Team Spirit

Directly invited to the event
(Yatoro, Larl, Collapse, rue, Miposhka)

The winners of the 2023 edition of The International are still looking for the same spark that set their world alight, and while they are always there or thereabouts when it comes to the podium conversation – including a runner-up finish in Raleigh – almost a year has passed between their two latest Tier 1 tournament wins in the form of the inaugural PGL Wallachia season last May and DreamLeague Season 25 this March. There's clearly a little more work to be done before consistently successful title tilts can be expected from the squad.

Shopify Rebellion

Directly invited to the event
(Timado, Yopaj-, Hellscream, skem, Pakazs)

Shopify Rebellion's roster chaos continues – and no, we are not talking about the Arteezy contract jail – with Peruvian player Pakazs still serving as a temporary replacement for mangekyou over two months after the Ukrainian position 3 player's departure from the squad. 's recent departure from the roster means much is still in flux for the squad, making an already unlikely contender even weaker in the stability department. With 9-10th finishes at DreamLeague Season 25 and ESL One Raleigh 2025, there is little reason to expect anything beyond a group stage exit from the squad.

Aurora Gaming

Directly invited to the event
(Nightfall, kiyotaka, TORONTOTOKYO, Mira, panto)

Aurora's completely chucked out their previous roster after a string of disappointing results, bringing back a motley crew of recognizable names as a wholesale replacement on the final day of February. We've got two events to look at: the 5-6th finish at the previous PGL Wallachia Season 3 was rather impressive – and the 9-11th spot at FISSUE Universe: Episode 4 a lot less so. Anything is possible with this squad heading into this event – there just isn't all that much for us to go on with regard to chemistry and composition at this stage.

HEROIC

Directly invited to the event
(Yuma, 4nalog, Wisper, Scofield, KJ)

HEROIC continue their Moneyball-lite experimentation across multiple esports, and so far, this Dota 2 squad is nothing much to write home about. PGL Wallachia Season 2 last October (with a different roster composition) was the high point of recent times, but group stage exits and early playoff eliminations have been the name of the game ever since.

Xtreme Gaming

Directly invited to the event
(Xxs, Ame, Xm, XinQ, Tianming)

Spring 2025 has been a period of extreme (…or should we say Xtreme? Xcuse us please) upheaval for the Chinese squad that saw three players and their coach leave, with Xxs and XinQ returning to the active roster in early March. This was followed by the decision to replace Undyne with Tianming (or 天命 if you're more inclined to stylize his name this way). With a with at FISSURE Special just a few days ago, they could do some damage here – but the team has been blowing hot and cold from event to event for a long while now, so expect some serious volatility.

Nigma Galaxy

Qualified via the Western European qualifiers
(Ghost, SumaiL, No!ob, OmaR, GH)

Nigma Galaxy's experience and prestige have not amounted to much over 2024, but the team's 3-4th finish at BLAST Slam II in February has certainly raised many eyebrows – which then promptly fell back to place after their early eliminations at PGL Wallachia's third season and ESL One Raleigh 2025. At this point, if you're wondering whether they will be "back," you've got to face the facts: they've never been here in the first place, and despite the name recognition, this team has always been on the outside looking in when it came to challenging for big titles. And don't even get me started on Miracle-.

NAVI Junior

Qualified via the Eastern European qualifiers
(gotthejuice, Niku, pma, Zayac, Riddys)

There's something extremely funny about NAVI's academy team defeating the main squad to qualify for the PGL Wallachia Season 4 event, and no doubt this hilarity will clearly carry over into the actual competition. After a 2-0 loss to the senior team in the upper bracket finals of the qualifier, they raced to a 2-0 lead in the grand final and had the resilience to keep going after the score turned even again, which should bode well for their appearance on the main stage. (Also, again, this is extremely funny.) Niku, in particular, is definitely worth keeping an eye on. It's just that the bug abuse in the ESL One Raleigh qualifiers leaves a sour taste in the mouth.

Team Tidebound

Qualified via the Chinese qualifiers
(shiro, NothingToSay, Bach, Planet, y')

Something something Chinese doto. Tidebound certainly showed some impressive glimpses with nice game wins at ESL One Raleigh against prestigious opposition, but they still didn't score a single series win and were eliminated in the group stage in the process. Expect something similar here: good gameplay with limited results.

Talon Esports

Qualified via the Southeast Asian qualifiers
(Natsumi, Mikoto, Ws, Jhocam, Kuku)

Ever since Natsumi rejoined the roster, Talon has been the epitome of stability, but that didn't help the SEA side make deep runs in international competitions. A group stage exit is likely on the cards for the regional qualifiers.

Mosquito Clan

Qualified via the Americas qualifiers
(payk, PiPi, Vitaly, Michael, Yadomi)

This core has gone through many names, so you might not be entirely familiar with who they are. It is the same squad that BOOM Esports has released after their failure to qualify for TI2024, who then kept playing together under the name Team Waska. Last September, Parker went to HEROIC, and Hector stepped in as his replacement. The team changed its name to the esports classic Looking for Org this January, and they were signed by Mosquito Clan in March. On April 7, Matthew was replaced by Michael – meaning that the composition is new but the core is the same. Impressive as their qualification is, they are grey ponies rather than dark horses heading into PGL Wallachia's fourth season.

Conclusion – PGL Wallachia Season 4

PGL's Wallachia Dota 2 event returns for its fourth season, with many of the top teams and players coming back for their share of the million-dollar prize pool. Taking place between April 19 and April 27, it brings back the now-familiar tournament format in a studio setting, just a few days after PARIVISION were crowned winners of ESL One Raleigh.

PARIVISION, alongside Tundra and Falcons, are among the favorites for the event, with the five regional qualifiers – NAVI Junior, Nigma Galaxy, Team Tidebound, Talon Esports, and Mosquito Clan, respectively – likely being Swiss cheese fodder for the group stage process.

The first matches are right around the corner – if you are anxious for more, the Bitsler blog offers you much more about competitive gaming, and, of course, the smart play is to create an account and check out everything Bitsler has to offer.