Two-time The International champion Ceb has released a striking breakdown of Ame’s performance in game five of The International 2025 grand finals, pointing to three costly decisions that may have denied Xtreme Gaming their first Aegis against Team Falcons.
In a 16-minute analysis video, the former OG star dissected Ame’s Juggernaut play in yet another painful finals defeat for the player often described as the “uncrowned king.” The sharpest critique focused on Ame’s choice to build Butterfly as a third item into Medusa.
Ceb did not hold back, using direct math to show why Diffusal Blade would have been the stronger option. “Diffusal burns 40 mana per hit and deals one physical damage per burned mana,” he explained. “Against Medusa’s mana shield, scaling at 3.8 damage per mana, every Diffusal hit effectively deals 160 additional damage compared to other items. It’s not even comparable.”
The skill build was another talking point, as Ame committed to just one point in Blade Fury for most of the game. While unusual, Ceb questioned whether this decision limited Juggernaut’s impact during critical fights. His breakdown highlighted three turning points. In the first major teamfight of the game, Ame failed to use Blade Fury under pressure and was killed without buyback. “This Dusa dies twice here,” Ceb stressed later, pointing to Ame’s Omnislash timing in the first high-ground siege from Falcons.
Talking about the second mistake, Ceb again pointed out Ame’s Omnislash timing during the team fight near radiant’s safe lane tier three tower. He said, “It’s so close. It would bounce to the creep wave; it would bounce to the Naga illusions. He clicks it like 0.5 seconds too early.”
Finally, he criticized Ame’s hesitation in the last fight near the radiant tier three tower after Falcons secured mega creeps: “He does not ulti. He’s saving ulti because he thinks Dusa is going to die. But there was a refresher on Naga.”
The loss sealed a 3-2 victory for Team Falcons in Hamburg. Despite his elite status, Ame left once again without a TI title. Ceb, who lifted the Aegis with OG in 2018 and 2019, tempered his harsh words with perspective: “I think it was not an easy game. Don’t get me wrong. It was very hard and came down to very small details, but maybe that is what it takes. Maybe that is the difference between winning TI and not winning it.”
For Ame and Xtreme Gaming, the analysis serves as a harsh but potentially valuable set of facts about their TI 2025 campaign, highlighting the razor-thin margins that determine championship glory in professional Dota 2.
