SVG on the 2026 Dota 2 Esports World Cup: “The format is total crap”

SVG: Here’s my take on this. Is it really that bad? Is it even a bad thing? Because it seems to me that a lot of people are criticizing others for saying, “Dota 2 is dying.” I have two counterarguments. First, if people feel that Valve is abandoning its game, they should speak up about it. That said, there’s a difference between expressing an opinion and pointless whining. I don’t want to hear pointless complaints. There’s a lot of that in Dota 2, and it might actually be hurting the game.

But if you’re offering criticism backed by logic and suggesting realistic solutions or pointing out areas for improvement, then I believe you should do so. People have invested a lot of time, effort, money, and a piece of their lives into this game. And if you feel that the game is poorly managed and not being taken care of enough, you have every right to speak up about it. You know, there’s nothing wrong with that <...>

My second point is that if you’re going to say that everything is bad and the game is dying, then you should also be actively trying to fight that, right? In my opinion, the difference between criticism and whining is that whiners do nothing. But people who truly offer criticism try to implement solutions or at least work to improve the state of the game.

Obviously, as people involved with Dota 2 and working in this field, we’re in a very privileged position, and I hope most people don’t take that for granted. I certainly don’t. This places an additional responsibility on us—to use our position to promote the game in a positive light. I’ve always tried to do that. Perhaps it also means we should work harder to promote the game through other platforms and channels. I think we’re working on that. Maybe not as actively as we could or should, but that’s just how it is. At least I believe we’re doing something.

Cap: Our prediction about PARIVISION turned out to be very accurate. They were clearly the best team in the tournament. To be honest, it didn’t seem to me like they really had any serious rivals.

SVG: Only Team Yandex gave them a run for their money. In fact, that series could have gone either way—it all depended on who played better on any given day. But other than that, I don’t know what happened to Team Falcons and Nigma Galaxy. They looked much better in the group stage, but then the break just wiped them out, I guess.

Cap: Yeah, ATF was really angry about that. In his post-match interview, he called the tournament format total crap.

SVG: To be honest, that’s a pretty weak excuse. I think he said it in the heat of the moment because that’s exactly what was on his mind at the time. I’ve been in situations like that myself and said all kinds of nonsense too, so I get where he’s coming from. But still, it’s a pretty weak stance. Just blaming it all on the format—come on, man, you lost twice to a team that didn’t even make it very far in the tournament afterward. Yeah, they’re a good team, and I was rooting for them, but let’s be honest. It’s not the same as if PARIVISION had crushed them 2–0, and then they could have said, “Damn, we lost to the future tournament champions.”

After all, you’re supposed to be a world-class team competing in a world-class tournament. If you have solid strategies, a good draft, and you play well, the break shouldn’t matter that much. Maybe you’ll be a little sleepy in the first map and need some time to wake up, but that didn’t stop PARIVISION and Team Yandex, right? So I think that’s a pretty weak argument.

Cap: Although I won’t argue that if anyone is going to criticize the EWC format, it’s probably someone from the Falcons organization.

SVG: Yes, I agree. For Dota 2, such a long break can indeed be a problem, because Dota 2 tournaments rely heavily on momentum and the flow of the game, and the meta is constantly evolving. You need to stay in that flow, and a long break can ruin everything. I don’t disagree with that. But I’m just saying that a world-class team should also understand this and prepare properly to maintain the necessary energy level. For example, they could rest for the first two days and then gradually get back into shape. Or come up with a different approach—in any case, the team needs to have a specific plan. Obviously, what they did didn’t work. Or maybe they just weren’t good enough. So I don’t know. That’s my take on it. Yeah, the format is total crap—I won’t argue with that. But, bro, that’s exactly why you lost.

Cap: Do you really think that’s a good fit for Dota 2? I’m fine with BLAST using that format—why not? I’m not against them experimenting with different formats. But I’ll say that I just don’t see much point in using this in Dota 2.

SVG: Why?

Cap: Well, because in League of Legends, hero diversity is incredibly low. So the fearless draft is an artificial way to force teams to use more different champions, and Dota 2, in my opinion, doesn’t need that. If a patch is really boring and monotonous, then I think a format like that could be interesting. If BLAST wants to follow in BTS’s footsteps and try to make its tournaments a little different—perhaps less focused exclusively on the competitive aspect, but more entertaining to watch—I’m all for it. I just don’t think the Fearless Draft will change much in Dota 2.

SVG: Yeah, that sounds fair. I don’t know. I think they should try different formats. I think people are too fixated on the idea that every tournament has to be in the Captains Draft format. I’ve never thought that was a must. It’s weird. I think it reflects what’s happening with the community: every tournament looks the same, and when a tournament tries to do something different, people immediately say, “Why are they doing this nonsense? It ruins the competitive integrity of the tournament.” And then another tournament rolls around with a double-elimination bracket, best-of-three matches, and a Captains Draft, and people say, “Man, all these matches are the same. They’re boring.” It feels like it’s simply impossible to please everyone. So, honestly, what’s the difference? That’s why it’s worth doing something that will help grow the audience. Why not, right?

Cap: I think we can succeed if we go even further and fully immerse ourselves in an experimental format. The problem is that right now we’re just experimenting a little with how the group stage will be structured and things like that. But to truly make the tournament unique, we need—again—to look at the experiences of BTS or Moonduck and really dive headfirst into this idea. Otherwise, most of these tournaments still end up using high-profile broadcasts on the level of ESPN, a million-dollar prize pool, and taking everything as seriously as possible—and then they just say: “Oh, we’ll have a single-elimination bracket” or “Oh, all our matches will be best-of-five.” I don’t think this actually changes the tournament that much. In my opinion, the Fearless Draft could be the first step toward truly making the tournament stand out from the rest.