It’s looking dire for the Dota 2 teams invited to ESL One Raleigh 2025 as they struggle to lock-in their roster for the event with merely two weeks left.
These teams include PARIVISION, BetBoom Team, Team Falcons, and Team Liquid, which are staples at major Dota 2 tournaments, so this is certainly a troubling situation for ESL.
ESL One Raleigh 2025 (Image credit: ESL)
Why are Dota 2 teams struggling to lock-in for ESL One Raleigh 2025?
Multiple teams have seemingly been unable to finalize their complete Dota 2 line-up that will compete at ESL One Raleigh 2025 due to pending US visa applications. ESL has taken the opportunity to host their tournament in North America region after a decade since NA fans had one. However, the uncommon venue location is proving to be problematic for many Dota 2 players that require a US visa to enter.
For the uninitiated, every non-US citizen requires a visa to enter the country, regardless of your purpose of visit. As such, the application process can often be very long, which historically resulted in no-shows for players, who failed or can’t secure their US visa before the tournament day.
PARIVISION, BetBoom Team, Team Falcons and Team Liquid comprised of relatively new Dota 2 players that may not have visited US recently. Hence, requiring to apply for US visa. In the case of AVULUS, the team that just recently got their slot to play in ESL One Raleigh 2025 due to the disqualification of NAVI Junior , they too need to find two stand-ins that already have US visa. This is because two AVULUS players, Daniel “Stormstormer” Schoetzau and Marcel “Ekki” Hołowienko left the team, so AVULUS do not have time to find a permanent replacement.
Preparing to play at ESL One Raleigh 2025
Many of these teams have even opted to have certain players skip recent events to prioritize the process of securing their US visa respectively. For instance, Team Falcons’ Stanislav “Malr1ne” Potorak did not participate at DreamLeague Season 25 and have Sumail “SumaiL” Hassan stand-in for him instead.
Tundra Esports’ Matthew “Whitemon” Filemon skipped the FISSURE Universe: Episode 4 tournament by having Tal “Fly“ Aizik stand-in too. Then, there’s Talon Esports, who resorted to having their whole roster skip PGL Wallachia Season 3 and future Europe-based tournaments just for ESL One Raleigh 2025. Mind you, PGL Wallachia S3 was a million million dollar event, which Talon Esports skipped.
That said, there are good reasons why many teams are prioritizing ESL One Raleigh 2025 over other upcoming tournaments in 2025. ESL One Raleigh 2025 is one of the only two remaining ESL tournaments that reward ESL Pro Tour (EPT) points. These points will determine the top-eight teams that receive direct invite to the most important tournament of 2025, Riyadh Masters.
Given how Riyadh Masters is the Dota 2 tournament with highest prize pool, at $3 million on the line, that’s quite an amount to be excited about.
How many Dota 2 teams will drop out of ESL One Raleigh 2025?
Nevertheless, the US visa application remains a difficult process for many Dota 2 players to obtain. Hence, it wouldn’t be surprising if we see multiple teams eventually having to withdraw from the ESL One Raleigh 2025 .
However, expect many teams to be playing with multiple stand-ins, perhaps by players who already have US visa or US-based players themselves.