OldR assessed the balance of power in the survival stage of the 2026 Esports World Cup for Dota 2
Raulino “OldR” Alves, a coach for professional Dota 2 teams, shared his take on the power dynamics of the survival stage of the 2026 Esports World Cup on X.
The survival stage of the 2026 Esports World Cup kicks off tomorrow. BB, 1w, Team Spirit, and Aurora are the favorites to advance to the playoffs. LGD might just pull off a surprise if they play as well as they did at BLAST. Yandex, PARIVISION, and Falcons are showcasing high-level Dota, while Nigma—with Lorenof and SumaiL—went 9-1 in the group stage.
Commentator Anton “Grayne” Afanasenko previously shared his predictions for this stage. “Spirit was incredibly unlucky. ‘Liquid’ arrived in rough shape, but as soon as they figured out how to play Dota, it suddenly turned out that all the meta heroes were the team’s strong suits,” the caster wrote.
Photo by Raulino “OldR” Alves.
