Mortalles highlighted the most exciting matches of the fourth day of the group stage at the 2026 Esports World Cup in Dota 2

Let’s first consider which matches the favorite might not win.

Naturally, BB vs. XG. But BB’s draft on the first map yesterday could very well be considered one of the worst of the tournament—at least among those that picked Tier 1 teams.
Mechanically, BB is stronger, and Kiritić is in good form. I hope they’ll stop messing up today and calmly close out the series. I still don’t believe in China. It’s not a mistake to skip the prematch.

Of all the top teams, Liquid is the least prepared for this tournament. Even in their only win so far, they could have lost the map. Liga is definitely stronger than LVLUP. Liquid won’t take first place in the group anymore, but they can’t really afford to give up third place here. On paper, they’re clearly the favorites, but…

Aurora is also in for a tough match. Again, Aurora can’t afford to drop any points if they want to take first place.
I’m not too impressed with Playtime’s drafts so far. I don’t think they’ll get what they’re after today. Betting on an Aurora win isn’t a mistake, of course, but you also need to keep in mind that this victory won’t come easily.

Rune Eaters vs. GamerLegion—an interesting series. I’m still not too high on RE. Sure, they took the first map against the weaker draft, but they got blown out on the second one. GL has more experience; they went toe-to-toe with XG and the Falcons. But it’s worth remembering that, essentially, this is a match to avoid being eliminated from the tournament. A 2-0 victory for either side will send one of the teams to the next stage.

And then there’s a super-interesting match—LGD vs. Yandex. Yandex is one of the tournament’s top favorites and can still finish first in the group. To keep that chance alive, they need to win 2-0. It’s going to be a battle.

In all the other series, I’m expecting 2-0 wins for the favorites. The only exception might be VG. But they’ve got enough skill, right? By the way, I’ll be commentating on their match today, and later today, OG vs. 1w.