Xtreme Gaming survive a gruelling day in the ESL One Birmingham 2026 lower bracket

After an exciting day of elimination action at ESL One Birmingham 2026, Team Spirit has been eliminated from the tournament.

While MOUZ and Team Falcons had already fallen by the wayside during the first two series, one final elimination series remained for Day 2 of the playoffs at ESL One Birmingham 2026. Having already played earlier in the day, Xtreme Gaming would have their work cut out as they went up against Team Spirit. Although XG were destroyed during the Group Stage in the same matchup, that was before the new patch changed everything.

With a guaranteed top 4 finish on the line, both teams went head-to-head to avoid being eliminate from the event.

Read more: PARIVISION eliminate Falcons as patch 7.41 continues to reshape Birmingham

Xtreme and Spirit give us a show of Dota 2 prowess at ESL One Birmingham 2026

XG got themselves off to a strong start for the series, able to find a solid lead in the early game period of Game 1. However, as we have seen many times, when Spirit have themselves backed into a corner, they are at their most dangerous. Once they had their items online, they became unstoppable, as they pummelled XG into a loss.

Both teams went into the next game hungry for a victory. On one side, Spirit was looking to quickly take down their opponents and move onto the next round, while the other side had XG hoping to take yet another series the full distance. With Illya “Yatoro” Mulyarchuk on Lifestealer and Wang “Ame” Chunyu on the barely seen Spectre, we were in for an epic journey. With Spirit gaining an early advantage and XG falling behind, it seemed as though they would have no response. However, the turnaround came and XG took advantage. There was no comeback for Spirit, and a slaughter from their opponents tied up the series.

Read more: Xtreme Gaming eliminate MOUZ from ESL One Birmingham 2026

It was an absolutely emphatic end to this series, with both teams securing huge kills back and forth. A fantastic start from Spirit was turned around by XG during the mid-game period, but that did not last either, as another swing came in the opposite direction. In a very chaotic game, where neither team was willing to give up, and mistakes on both sides, it went over the hour mark.

With Tier 5 Neutral Items in play, the series came down to the wire. But, when the dust settled in the final fights, it was XG that managed to make the plays to claim a massive victory. With a 2-1 win, the runners up of The International 2025 moved forward at ESL One Birmingham 2026, looking to make a magnificent lower bracket run. For Spirit, unfortunately, with some amazing plays, will be eliminated.