Noticed on winning the 2026 Esports World Cup in Dota 2: “When you haven’t been winning, you expect a little more.”

[Are you practicing a lot right now?] Right now—yes. [How many scrims do you play per day on average?] Well, right now we’re trying to fill as much time as possible, because you can’t really play in public matches here anyway. Well, on average, we start with four players and go up to… Well, nobody usually plays six, but it depends on when we can find people. Today, it just so happened that we played with five. That’s a rare occurrence.

[How did that realization even hit you? What were you feeling at that moment?] I was just happy that we managed to win after all. It wasn’t for nothing that I played. [Weren’t you nervous at all? Were you nervous?] I was nervous. Well, before the final, of course, and then again toward the end. Not that I was nervous… More like, well, a little stage fright, as usual, but it went away during the games. The jitters were already there when you’re winning, and you realize that it’s basically all over—you’re 99.9% sure you’ve won. Right now they’re going to type “GG,” and you think, “Oh my gosh, is this really going to happen? Really? That’s insane.” [And when did you lift the trophy?] Well, it’s cool, but, again, it doesn’t quite play out the way you imagine it in your head. After all, when you haven’t won before, you expect a little more. In reality, it looks a little more ordinary, but I think it also depends on the size of the venue and the stage, and just the number of people in general. At the EWC, you could actually feel it, but even so, out of the corner of your eye, you see that there aren’t as many people as at other tournaments.

[When did the moment come when you generally realized that it was over, that your time with Team Yandex was coming to an end?] I fully realized it after ESL One Birmingham 2026. I was simply told that this decision had been made. How did I feel about it? Well, obviously, I couldn’t change it, but I definitely didn’t take it very well. It wasn’t so much that I had any grievances against anyone there, but I just didn’t want to miss the major tournaments, especially when you’d qualified for them on points. [What made you choose PARIVISION specifically?] First of all, I consider everyone on this team to be strong, and overall, you don’t have that many options for where you can actually get into a Tier 1 team. Plus, it’s basically a CIS roster, which is also a bit more convenient. They’re based in Belgrade, too, which works well for me. And I hang out with 9Class and Satanic a lot, so it feels like the perfect fit.

[Who’s on your team and what are their responsibilities? Who’s in charge?] Puppey is definitely the leader, obviously. During the game, I’d say it’s Dukalis, 9Class, and No[o]ne-. Dukalis is considered the captain and is generally always ready to make a play; he spots opportunities well, which is why he takes the lead. No[o]ne-—well, the same goes for him. [And what language do you use to communicate right now?] English, but you can easily switch to Russian. It just makes communication clearer that way—it’s easier.