ESL One Raleigh 2025: PARIVISION take over as Group A's top seed as Nigma Galaxy falter

Meanwhile, Team Falcons continue to lead in Group B while Shopify Rebellion and Talon Esports became the first teams to be eliminated.

The second day of the ESL One Raleigh 2025 Group Stage on Wednesday (9 April) continued to deliver on Dota 2 action, as the top teams in each group have begun to separate themselves from the rest of the pack while two teams have already been eliminated from the competition.

PARIVISION have taken the top spot in Group A as Nigma Galaxy plunged back down to earth after a perfect start in day one of the Group Stage. Shopify Rebellion and Talon Esports have also been eliminated after only managing one win apiece across the eight games they played in so far. Meanwhile in Group B, Team Falcons tightened their grip over the top spot in their group.

Here's how all the action in Day 2 of ESL One Raleigh 2025 went down:

PARIVISION take over as top seed of Group A

After a 3-1 start in day one, PARIVISION have risen to the top spot of Group A after a perfect run in day two with 2-0 sweeps over reigning The International champions Team Liquid and a struggling Talon Esports. With their last match of the Group Stage in day three pitting them against Nigma Galaxy, PARIVISION are all but guaranteed a spot in the upper bracket, and likely to remain Group A's top seed.

Finishing day two as Group A's second seed are Team Spirit, who recovered from a middling 2-2 start in day one with their own perfect run in day two. Spirit swept Nigma Galaxy and Shopify Rebellion to improve their record to 6-2, with an upper bracket berth in the Playoffs also likely to remain in their hands. If Spirit sweep Talon in their final match of the Group Stage while PARIVISION fail to sweep Nigma Galaxy, then Spirit will also have a shot at stealing away the top spot for Group A.

Occupying the lower bracket spots for Group A are Liquid and Nigma Galaxy, who finished day two with 5-3 and 4-4 records, respectively. While both squads are guaranteed at least a lower bracket start in the Playoffs, they still have a shot at making the upper bracket if things go their way in the final day of the Group Stage.

Liquid will need to sweep Shopify Rebellion, while hoping that either PARIVISION or Spirit fail to score sweeps in day three. Meanwhile, Nigma Galaxy will have to sweep PARIVISION and hope that Talon somehow sweep Spirit as well. Those scenarios are looking very unlikely, so Liquid and Nigma Galaxy will have to prepare for a lower bracket run in the Playoffs.

Team Falcons remain Group B's top seed, AVULUS rise to second place

While Group A has largely been settled after two days of competition, things are a bit more chaotic over in Group B.

After a 3-1 start in day one, Falcons enjoyed another day with a 3-1 score by sweeping HEROIC and drawing with AVULUS to improve their record to 6-2. With their final match of the Group Stage seeing them take on a struggling Team Tidebound, Falcons are all but guaranteed to start the Playoffs in the upper bracket as the top seed of Group B.

AVULUS then came out of nowhere to become the second seed of Group B after a middling 2-2 start in day one. Despite playing with two stand-ins after a roster shakeup two weeks before ESL One Raleigh kicked off, AVULUS swept Team Tidebound and drew with Falcons in day two to improve their record to 5-3. It will be a challenge to retain this placement, however, as AVULUS are set to go against a BetBoom Team that had just won FISSURE Universe: Episode 4 a week ago in their last match of the Group Stage.

Four teams remain in contention for the two remaining Playoff spots in Group B: BetBoom, Tundra Esports, Tidebound, and HEROIC.

BetBoom and Tundra have the best shots at advancing to the next stage with 4-4 records apiece. After finishing day one at the bottom of the standings, BetBoom seems to have woken up as they drew with Tundra and swept HEROIC to get back into contention. Meanwhile, Tundra no longer look like the team that dominated the first three months of the year as they only managed draws in all of their matches so far.

Tundra might have the easier path towards advancing to the Playoffs, as their last match will pit them against bottom team HEROIC, which should give them their first and only 2-0 sweep of this stage. If that happens and the AVULUS-BetBoom match ends in either a draw or BetBoom winning 2-0, then Tundra will be playing in a tiebreaker match for an upper bracket spot.

Finally, Tidebound and HEROIC are still technically in contention for a Playoff spot despite only having 3-5 and 2-6 records, respectively. Both teams will have to somehow score a sweep in their final matches against stronger competition while also hoping other results in day three go their way. With all due respect to Tidebound and HEROIC, but it's looking very likely that they will be joining Shopify Rebellion and Talon on the early plane ride back home.

Here's how all the matches in day two of the ESL One Raleigh 2025 Group Stage went down:

Group A

Team Spirit 2-0 Nigma Galaxy
PARIVISION 2-0 Team Liquid
Shopify Rebellion 1-1 Talon Esports
Team Liquid 2-0 Nigma Galaxy
Team Spirit 2-0 Shopify Rebellion
PARIVISION 2-0 Talon Esports

Group B

Tundra Esports 1-1 BetBoom Team
Team Falcons 2-0 HEROIC
Team Tidebound 0-2 AVULUS
Tundra Esports 1-1 Team Tidebound
Team Falcons 1-1 AVULUS
BetBoom Team 2-0 HEROIC

Here are the standings after day two the ESL One Raleigh 2025 Group Stage:

Group A

PARIVISION: 7-1
Team Spirit: 6-2
Team Liquid: 5-3
Nigma Galaxy: 4-4
Shopify Rebellion: 1-7 (eliminated)
Talon Esports: 1-7 (eliminated)

Group B

Team Falcons: 6-2
AVULUS: 5-3
BetBoom Team: 4-4
Tundra Esports: 4-4
Team Tidebound: 3-5
HEROIC: 2-6

ESL One Raleigh 2025 will take place from 7 to 13 April in Raleigh, North Carolina, and is the first ESL One event to be hosted in the United States since ESL One New York in 2015. The final three days of the tournament will be played in front of a live crowd in the Raleigh Convention Center. The champions of ESL One Raleigh 2025 will claim the grand prize of US$250,000 out of the tournament's US$1 million prize pool, alongside a hefty haul of ESL Pro Tour points that will go towards earning a direct invite for this year's Dota 2 Riyadh Masters in the Esports World Cup 2025.