Puppey on the home-based tournament format at BetBoom Dacha: “It was too commercial there.”
PARIVISION coach Clement “Puppey” Ivanov, in a vlog from the Esports World Cup 2026 on the team’s YouTube channel, commented on the underdogs’ performance at the tournament and reflected on the home-based competition format.
On the performance of the “dark horses” at the Esports World Cup 2026
I’d say that the two teams that look very strong right now—and perhaps aren’t being given much of a chance to prove themselves—are LGD Gaming and Rune Eaters. As for all the teams that made it here through the qualifiers, they usually didn’t get very far.
On the home-based tournament format
People want a tournament where we’re just being ourselves. We show up in the midst of some chaos and play. BetBoom Dacha tried to do it in that format, but I feel like it wasn’t possible to pull it off that well there. There were also tournaments like that in America called Beyond the Summit. People sit on the couch there; casters sometimes come by, talk, eat—it’s like a reality show the whole time, so to speak. I know people want this, but it’s not happening right now. BetBoom tried it, but it was too commercial there.
Earlier, Clement “Puppey” Ivanov spoke about 1w Team at the 2026 Dota 2 Esports World Cup: “This is the best team. Maybe they won’t win this tournament, but before that, when we arrived here, we played a couple of qualifiers, and they really showed us what they’re made of.”
Photo — Valve.
