BLAST Bounty Fall 2025 Lineup Announced: Falcons Decline Participation

ESL and BLAST tournament organizers have announced the return of Overpass to the active competitive map pool. It will replace Anubis at all of their LAN events starting with IEM Cologne 2025. The change takes immediate effect for ESL Pro Tour tournaments, with the exception of the ongoing ESL Pro League Season 22 qualifiers, which will continue on the previous patch. BLAST has also confirmed the inclusion of Overpass in their map pool starting August 1 — this applies to the BLAST Rising qualifiers. However, open qualifiers in July will still be played on Anubis. This gives IEM Cologne participants just 10 days to prepare for the new map — only 7 days for play-in stage teams.

Overpass to return to the map pool at IEM Cologne 2025

Aurora has been forced to make an urgent roster change ahead of IEM Cologne. XANTARES will miss the tournament due to family reasons — he will be temporarily replaced by xfl0ud, who has previously played with this team. xfl0ud was part of the Aurora lineup from 2021 to 2023 and recently played for HEROIC. He will now join Aurora on loan. At IEM Cologne, Aurora will field a fully Turkish roster: MAJ3R, woxic, Wicadia, jottAAA, and xfl0ud, with Fabre as the coach. The $1,000,000 tournament kicks off on July 23.

Aurora to Compete at IEM Cologne Without XANTARES

The group stage of the Esports World Cup 2025 for Dota 2 will continue on July 10.

In the first phase of the tournament, 16 teams are divided into 4 groups, where each team will face every other team in a best-of-2 series.

Following the group stage, the top team from each group will advance directly to the playoffs. The second-place teams will start from the second round of the Elimination Phase, while all remaining teams will begin from the first round of the Elimination Phase.

<h4>Schedule for July 10</h4>
<ul>
 <li><a href="/esports/match/natus-vincere-vs-team-spirit-10-07">NAVI vs Spirit</a> — 11:00 CEST</li>
 <li><a href="/esports/match/talon-esports-vs-xtreme-gaming-10-07">Xtreme vs Talon</a> — 11:00 CEST</li>
 <li><a href="/esports/match/team-falcons-vs-gaimin-gladiators-10-07-1">Falcons vs Gladiators</a> — 13:30 CEST</li>
 <li><a href="/esports/match/execration-vs-bb-team-10-07">BB Team vs Execration</a> — 13:30 CEST</li>
</ul>

EWC 2025 Schedule. Group Stage. July 10

broky has rejoined the FaZe starting lineup after a two-month break. The 24-year-old player was benched in May, as s1mple stood in for him at IEM Dallas and BLAST.tv Austin Major while on loan from NAVI. Whether FaZe will make any additional roster changes during the summer transfer window remains unknown. The current lineup includes: rain, karrigan, frozen, EliGE, and broky. The team is coached by NEO.

broky returns to FaZe starting lineup

The group stage of the Esports World Cup 2025 for Dota 2 will continue on July 9.

In the first phase of the tournament, 16 teams are divided into 4 groups, where each team will face every other team in a best-of-2 series.

Following the group stage, the top team from each group will advance directly to the playoffs. The second-place teams will start from the second round of the Elimination Phase, while all remaining teams will begin from the first round of the Elimination Phase.

<h4>Schedule for July 9</h4>
<ul>
 <li><a href="/esports/match/talon-esports-vs-team-spirit-09-07">Spirit vs Talon</a> — 11:00 CEST</li>
 <li><a href="/esports/match/xtreme-gaming-vs-natus-vincere-09-07">NAVI vs Xtreme</a> — 11:00 CEST</li>
 <li><a href="/esports/match/team-falcons-vs-bb-team-09-07">BB Team vs Falcons</a> — 13:30 CEST</li>
 <li><a href="/esports/match/gaimin-gladiators-vs-execration-09-07">Gladiators vs Execration</a> — 13:30 CEST</li>
 <li><a href="/esports/match/tundra-esports-vs-aurora-gaming-09-07">Tundra vs Aurora</a> — 16:00 CEST</li>
 <li><a href="/esports/match/cyber-goose-vs-virtus-pro-09-07">Virtus.pro vs Team Yandex</a> — 16:00 CEST</li>
 <li><a href="/esports/match/team-liquid-vs-parivision-09-07">PARIVISION vs Liquid</a> — 18:30 CEST</li>
 <li><a href="/esports/match/team-heroic-vs-shopify-rebellion-09-07">Heroic vs Shopify Rebellion</a> — 18:30 CEST</li>
</ul>

EWC 2025 Schedule. Group Stage. July 9

jL has announced a temporary break from professional Counter-Strike. According to the Natus Vincere organization, the player has been moved to the inactive roster to focus on his mental well-being and take a rest from the intense esports routine. Taking jL's place on the main NAVI roster is makazze, who previously played for NAVI Junior. The team is clearly doubling down on its internal talent development strategy. The new lineup is expected to make its debut at IEM Cologne, starting on July 26. In a message to fans, jL shared that his break could last from three to six months. In 2024, jL helped NAVI claim four titles, including a victory at the PGL Major in Copenhagen, where he earned the MVP award. However, 2025 proved to be a tougher year: at the Austin Major, the team only reached the 5th–8th place.

jL takes a break from competition

Team Spirit has officially announced the signing of zweih. The 17-year-old player joins the active roster, replacing magixx, who has been moved to the bench. zweih spent the last year with Nemiga, where he helped the team achieve notable results in online competitions — including reaching the finals of the ESL Challenger League and winning the Hellcase Cup. In the fall of 2024, he became Nemiga’s top performer at the RES Regional Champions LAN tournament. In 2025, zweih firmly established himself as Nemiga’s leading player, delivering impressive performances at BLAST Bounty S1 and ESL Pro League Stage 1. He also shined at the Austin Major, where Nemiga made a surprising run to Stage 3. The updated Team Spirit roster now includes chopper, sh1ro, zont1x, donk, and zweih. hally remains the team’s coach. The squad’s debut tournament will be Intel Extreme Masters Cologne 2025, set to take place from July 23 to August 3.

Team Spirit benches magixx and signs zweih

Falcons have announced the launch of a new academy project called Falcons Force. The team will be led by Danish coach NaToSaphiX, who previously coached the women’s roster NIP Impact. After short playing stints with teams such as Sprout, HEROIC, and Complexity, NaToSaphiX ended his player career and transitioned into coaching in March 2024. Under his guidance, NIP Impact reached the ESL Impact League Finals for the first time in Season 6, finishing in the 5th–6th position, and later advanced to the semi-finals in Season 7. He is now tasked with building Falcons Force from scratch — a project focused on developing young talents and preparing them for the biggest stages in competitive esports. The academy aims to become a launching pad for ambitious players ready to grow professionally. Falcons have already opened applications for aspiring players. The next phases will include scouting tournaments followed by a final evaluation stage, after which the team’s core lineup will be finalized.

Falcons Launch Academy Team Falcons Force

FURIA has officially announced the signing of YEKINDAR. Previously, he was playing for the team on loan from Liquid, but after a successful two-month trial, both parties have agreed on a contract that will run until the summer of 2027. The Latvian rifler played with the team at PGL Astana and Austin Major, where he showcased excellent form, finishing the tournament with a 1.26 rating — one of the best in his career in recent years. YEKINDAR also played a key role in helping the young AWPer molodoy adapt, assisting him with the transition to the new system and improving communication in English. FURIA will kick off the new season at the FISSURE Playground 1 tournament in Belgrade, scheduled for July 15–20. Later in the month, the team will also compete in IEM Cologne, starting from the Play-In stage.

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