Highlights from the We Say Things 295 podcast — “The Dark Carnival,” LGD Gaming at TI 2026, and Natus Vincere’s failure

Commentators Troels “syndereN” Nielsen Lingholt and Shannon “SUNSfan” Scott in Episode 295 of the We Say Things podcast discussed the “Dark Carnival” in-game event in Dota 2, LGD Gaming’s run at The International 2026, and Natus Vincere’s slump at the end of the tournament season.

SUNSfan noted ironically that the developers continue to use the old promotional video as if it were normal. syndereN brought up the theory that Ringmaster’s abilities might be reworked to match the version originally shown, featuring an ultimate that which traps enemies in a box, and added that the idea was likely scrapped due to the excessive complexity of mechanics like stealing an enemy hero, after which the character’s final abilities didn’t match the teaser. He suggested that the original concept might still return, for example, as a boss fight or a story event.

Commenters unanimously supported the phased release of content. Shannon compared this approach to a series of episodes, which allows the material to be better absorbed: releasing everything at once would create overload. According to syndereN, this creates a sense of anticipation for the next stage among users, and casual players don’t feel like they’re falling too far behind—by playing a couple of matches a day, most will easily be able to complete everything in a couple of months.

syndereN emphasized that LGD’s recognizable brand at the tournament could draw local fans to support a Western team, but for that to happen, the roster would need to make it onto the main stage—and the format is still unknown. SUNSfan suggested that there might not be any teams from China in the main stage at all, and his colleague agreed. He also speculated that Valve might change the tournament format so that China would still be represented.

Troels noted that there are so many players in Europe that an unknown team could easily feature five players from the top of the rankings, so winning requires either strategic superiority or experience, and he expressed regret that Natus Vincere performed poorly in the qualifiers for TI 15 and the 2026 Esports World Cup. Shannon is convinced that this time the club will have to make tough decisions, because they can no longer rely indefinitely on young players.

Earlier, LGD Gaming support Mateusz “KJ” Santos Jungles Diniz explained what The International means to him: “It’s absolutely everything. It’s the biggest and most important tournament, the one that justifies all your efforts in this game. Life in some kind of parallel universe where we’re not playing at TI seems wrong to me.”

Photo by Shannon “SUNSfan” Scott.