sbdush on Level UP’s team uniform: “We just couldn’t quite pull it all together properly in the end.”
Level UP coach Sergey “sbdush” Fatullaev spoke on a podcast with Viktor “CloudFox” Kulichevsky about the form of Chinese teams ahead of The International 2026, revealed the main reason for his team’s losses, and discussed the roster’s form ahead of the Esports World Cup 2026.
On Chinese teams at The International 2026
Nah, I don’t know, maybe they’ll pull it off. You see, Chinese teams—they’re just kind of unpredictable. Right now, you can’t say for sure whether they’ll play great or not, or if they’ll play poorly. Well, obviously, playing on home turf might give them an edge. I mean, you could joke that when you’re playing in a tournament, there are just guys in suits standing behind you, right? But back home, there are guys in even fancier suits who are there for a different purpose.
On the main reason for Level UP’s losses
It’s no big deal if I explain them. The thing is, if we have a target like Roshan, we have to build our fights exclusively around Roshan. We shouldn’t overcommit, and in any fight that breaks out, we need to draw the opponent toward us—toward our wards, our high grounds, and so on.
If you recall how we lost the second or third game against Yellow Submarine, or how we lost the third map against 4ikibamboni, those losses followed the exact same pattern: they resulted from failing to stick to these strategies.
On the team’s form leading up to the 2026 Esports World Cup
I don’t think everything would have fallen apart, because one way or another, everyone understood that the Esports World Cup was coming up, but, to be honest, we never really managed to fully pull ourselves together until the very end. I mean specifically as a team, because at some point everyone wanted to go back to how things were—well, during the EWC qualifiers. The overall vibe, both in terms of gameplay and in terms of drafts and so on.
Some people wanted something new—basically, there was a lot of commotion. And again, at boot camp, things started to get a little chaotic at some point. But I took everything under my strict control there. I simply said that if this continued, I wouldn’t talk to you guys anymore.
Earlier, Sergey “sbdush” Fatullaev spoke about his desired outcome at the 2026 Esports World Cup: “I’d really like for us to advance out of the group stage. Because if we advance, our stay will be extended until the 20th—that is, until the final day of the tournament—and we’ll be able to watch the matches on stage.”
Photo — Sergey “sbdush” Fatullaev.
