Fng spoke at length about Team Spirit’s performance at the 2026 Esports World Cup in Dota 2

The “Dragons” made one very smart move ahead of the tournament. They brought in a very good coach, so to speak, because… It seems to me that panto wasn’t their biggest problem—even though you could sense a lack of synergy and mutual understanding within the team—but the main issues were with their drafts. Well, we’ve seen this a million times: you see that the players seem to have the skill. You see that they can’t capitalize on it because they’re getting crushed on the lanes—even if, God willing, you’re 50-50 on heroes.

If you lose the early game and go into the late game trailing, a decent team will wipe the floor with you. This has plagued Spirit for a long time. Things have definitely improved now, but, to be honest, I still see this kind of imbalance among the supports, because in some teams, for example, one support is roaming, [another] support is fulfilling some kind of teamfight role, or a support is laning, [yet another] support is in a teamfight role. It’s as if Team Spirit still has two “fours.”

You rarely see rue play a “mega-five” role where he actually performs well. It’s more of a “half-four” role where he performs well, but he’ll play more like a “five.” So far, let’s just say, this hasn’t backfired on them. But on the other hand, they aren’t in first place in their group [at the 2026 Dota 2 Esports World Cup—Ed.].

Of course, as you know, I’m saying that maybe he lacks the pool to be a “five,” but that doesn’t make him a bad player. The signs of a bad player are when you’re spamming buttons, feeding a lot, getting your wards destroyed, not destroying many yourself, and so on. But with rue, all those metrics are actually at a very high level, which is exactly why he’s such a great player. Basically, when he joined Spirit, I think his adjustment period—like that of any player on a new team—was slow and not very successful at first, but then he really started to shine. And if you look at how he presses the buttons, his understanding of Dota 2, and everything else, he’s a solid “five.” It’s just that it takes time.

That’s a rough way of putting it, of course, but let’s compare, for example, rue and Miposhka. You’ll see—if Miposhka ends up with a “Wyvern,” that’s trouble; if they make it to this stage [late game], Miposhka will always hit the right buttons. But will rue reach that level? Well, for now, I have a little doubt. Then again, if he wins the tournament, feel free to call me out.

Back when I was at Virtus.pro with BuLba, I was sort of the “assistant” coach. That puts certain limits on you—you can’t set the direction. You can support the head coach’s direction. And only then look for another job.

You’re basically doing everything and nothing at the same time. You watch the games, you keep track of the stats. Maybe you’ll share them, maybe not. It’s a matter of necessity, because every team goes through different phases. It seems to me that right now, Spirit’s situation—and MiLAN’s in general—is probably not the most beneficial. But when it counts, he’ll always make an impact. That’s the whole point: if everything’s going well, how could you even play comfortably without a coach, right? But if things are going badly, then you really need to find a coach. Well, a second coach is usually more of an analyst or statistician. Maybe he’ll have something to say, maybe not. Korb3n might have something to say, too.

What I’m getting at is that if the guys are keeping him around, it means he’s already made an impact. And that’s the most important thing when you keep someone on the team.