
REKONIX support player Abdalla “dalul” Afemi spoke on a podcast on the DTVI YouTube channel about his preparations for the Games of the Future 2026 and his feelings after being eliminated from the qualifiers for The International 2026.
He explains how to lane and how to make calls. For example, if you have an item but aren’t saying anything at all, he’ll say, “Are you completely hopeless?” Basically, that’s the gist of it. But he says it politely. For example, you have an item that lets you start a fight, but you don’t say anything. Your team doesn’t know what to do, and you’re just farming creeps even though you already have the item you need—but you don’t communicate it. Basically, that’s the idea.
If we’re talking about our goal in terms of mindset, I want to win. But realistically, probably the top 10. That is, making it to the playoffs. Yeah, that’s right. Before the playoffs, there was still a survival stage with a best-of-3 format, and there were a lot of teams there. And in the playoffs, I think it was still quite realistic to advance further. As you said, on some days we could still win.
Personally, I’m ready. And the team is preparing right now, too. We’re playing KV every day.
Because of Sundabule in OG, I felt really betrayed. I lost to OG, and then in the lower bracket I faced Grind Back, who literally copied OG’s draft and bans. I was like, “Damn, that’s rough.” We lost to them too, and I felt even more betrayed. It hurt more than when I broke up with a girlfriend. I’d been trying to make it to TI for five years. And right at the moment when I had my best chance to make it to TI, I was betrayed. I was just like, “Well, that’s it.” But, anyway, I still had to get back to myself. Yeah, because Sundabule indirectly gave other people a sort of cheat sheet on how to play against REKONIX.
Earlier, REKONIX support player Abdalla “dalul” Afemi spoke on a podcast on the DTVI YouTube channel about the team’s results at the 2026 Dota 2 Esports World Cup, the lessons learned after their performance at the tournament, and the team’s challenges.
Photo: REKONIX.