9Class on Puppey: “Everyone respects him, everyone listens to him. He really helps with the game.”

[Do you feel like favorites yourselves heading into the tournament?] I think so. [Doesn’t it seem like the other teams are now targeting you because of that?] I think so. Right now, a lot of teams are analyzing our replays and trying to play the same way we do. [So do you have to come up with new strategies for every match?] Not really right now. We’re just trying to play good Dota 2. And if the meta changes, we adapt on the fly.

Everyone respects him, everyone listens to him. He’s a huge help with the game: where to position yourself on the map, how to structure your gameplay. Plus, he’s constantly preparing for our opponents, so you can just relax—Puppey will make an excellent pick. In the group, you can focus entirely on your own game. [So, is he a very hardworking coach?] Yes, he literally lives at his computer. You show up for practice, and he’s already been drafting for 10 hours straight.

[Did you have any difficult periods or serious problems this year?] I’d say no. Except maybe at ESL One Birmingham 2026. We were trying our hardest to adapt to the meta back then, and the team faced a lot of difficulties because we had to learn a ton of things from scratch. It was tough and stressful. But then a patch came out, we started playing well, and everyone else was playing poorly. The patch helped us, and working together with Puppey every day really paid off. That was the toughest period, I’d say.

I think Lina will be the most popular, but not as a support. As for supports, it’ll be Hoodwink and Rubick.

Last time, I was just happy to play—winning wasn’t a must. But now I want to take home the Aegis. I feel like I’m ready.