Malady on the 2026 Dota 2 Esports World Cup: “I’d like the tournament to be organized a little better.”

watson: Honestly, I thought we’d make it to the Grand Final. We [had] a boot camp leading up to the EWC; I think our win rate in scrims was around 95%. We won almost everything—everything was going our way. We just happened to face PARIVISION in the bracket, and that day our drafts weren’t quite right, and we just played a bit stiffly.

Somehow, by a miracle, we managed to take one card. Honestly, when the drafts ended, I looked at their draft, then at ours, and thought, “That’s it, salam aleikum.” And somehow we ended up winning that game.

[Question: “Didn’t you figure out how?”]

Satanic flew in and died, then flew in a second time and died. They just made a lot of mistakes, and we’re no pushovers—we punish that kind of thing. And we won. But then we just lost again. <...>

[Question: “Do you feel the same way, or were you expecting something better?”]

Malady: No, I thought we’d just make it into the top 3—and that would be fine. Yeah, we were a little unlucky to face PARIVISION earlier than expected, but if we’d met them in the final, I don’t know—I think we would’ve lost just the same. Right now, I think they’ll be stronger than us.

[Question: “Did that dampen your spirits before Int?”]

Malady: We cried for a day, but then everything was fine.

watson: Actually, nobody cried. It was more of a sense of relief. We still had one last game to play against Vici [for third place]. We wrapped it up quickly—it was a relief that it was all over and we didn’t have to travel anywhere else. I got sick at boot camp. The day before our flight, I got food poisoning, and I was sick the whole time we were in Riyadh. And as soon as I started feeling better, my coach got sick. At first, my stomach hurt; I was running to the bathroom nonstop, and it took about five minutes to walk from practice to the restroom. And as soon as I felt better, my coach got sick—he started coughing, his throat started hurting, and he passed it back to me. I was just sitting there, sick, playing. I didn’t have any fun at all at this tournament. <...>

Malady: I think the most annoying thing about this tournament was that there were three different locations. Location A was the hotel, Location B was the practice area, and Location C was the arena. You had to just drive back and forth all day if you had matches. First, you wait at the hotel for the shuttle—which is definitely packed with a million people—because it’s not just Dota; other disciplines are being held there at the same time. Then you’d arrive at the practice area, sit there for a bit, pack up your gear, head to Point C, and then, once the game was over, go back from Point C to Point B, and finally from Point B to Point A—the hotel.

I was wasting about three hours a day, I guess, just for nothing. And all of this in Paris, where there are just a ton of people. <...> Anyway, whatever. I don’t really care, to be honest. Everyone was on equal footing. I just wish the tournament had been organized a little better.

watson: Probably the one in Denmark. Or the one we won?

[Question: “BLAST?”]

BLAST? What happened there? And where was it?

Malady: In Denmark. There was BLAST, which we won; there was PGL, which we won; and there was DreamLeague, which we won. Did we win anything else?

watson: Those were all online, not in person. ESL too—we got second place. There were spectators there, but I didn’t like the practice setup. The chairs there looked like someone had been sitting on them for 30 years straight. Plus, the room was tiny, with no AC—just a fan.

Malady: The chairs there were really dirty, but still, my favorite tournament is probably ESL One Birmingham, where we took second place. There were so many emotions, and the crowd was just amazing. Even though it didn’t matter that everyone was rooting against us, playing Dota in front of such a huge crowd, such a huge number of fans, was an incredible experience.

watson: <...> I chose Int in Denmark because it was my first time making it to the Int playoffs, and there were a ton of people there, too. When the players’ nicknames were called, they walked out, and the crowd wasn’t chanting for Kataomi, or Fishman, or DM; they did chant for No[o]ne—and for me. You walk out, look at the “Aegis,” and the whole crowd is just screaming. There was an afterparty, too—I’ve never experienced so many emotions in my life.

watson: We need to draft better. We had some issues with the drafts. It seems like we’ve resolved them—are they gone now, or what?

Malady: Yeah. I guess the first conclusion we came to is that during the draft, we need to speak entirely in English, because Saksa wants to understand what’s going on during the draft, not just when he’s asked a question. Even though he knows a little Russian, sometimes he doesn’t understand at all what we’re talking about.

[Question: “Hasn’t he started learning Russian yet? Maybe he’s had some desire, a burst of motivation, or picked up a few phrases?”]

He has that urge and knows some phrases—he swears very well. He knows “meat on the left, ground meat on the right” and “dobe.” Basic Dota meme words. <...>

I’ve also come to the conclusion that I need to play my own heroes. If, say, three of my heroes are already banned, I need to prioritize my own picks over anyone else’s, first and foremost.