Ace on the meta at the 2026 Dota 2 Esports World Cup: “We have to adapt pretty quickly.”

Team Liquid offlaner Markus Folke “Ace” Helgard Christensen spoke in an interview at the Esports World Cup 2026 about gathering information on the meta during the tournament.
On whether the team treats the group stage as practice
Yes, of course. I think that when it comes to what we prepared at boot camp—in terms of heroes and everything else—a lot has already changed significantly over these past few days. To be honest, some heroes have emerged that we weren’t sure how strong they were. So we just need to adapt to what other teams are bringing to the game.
On whose matches the team gathers information from
I think it mostly comes from our own games—I’d say, first and foremost, from official matches. But also from scrimmages. [But do you get enough information from official matches, considering there’s only one series per day?] Yes, we have to adapt pretty quickly. But I think we’re pretty good at doing that. Besides, we can look at the tournament stats and try to glean some information from there. So, overall, it’s a mix of different sources.
Earlier, Team Liquid support Samuel “Boxi” Svan, spoke in a post-match interview following the game against Aurora Gaming during the group stage of the 2026 Esports World Cup in Dota 2 about the team’s drafts, adapting as the tournament progresses, and how the players interact within the team.


