“The Dark Carnival,” the EWC 2026 Dota 2 tournament, and draft duration—highlights from the We Say Things podcast, episode 296

Commentators Troels “syndereN” Nielsen Lingholt and Shannon “SUNSfan” Scott discussed the Esports World Cup 2026 for Dota 2, “Dark Carnival,” the single-elimination format, and draft durations. Here are the highlights.

SUNSfan admitted that the current meta bores him. According to him, the matches followed an extremely monotonous and predictable pattern, making the outcome easy to predict in advance; the real highlight of the tournament was the match between PARIVISION and Team Yandex, with the second map—which lasted 65 minutes—standing out in particular. For him, this matchup felt like a true final, as he considered these two teams to be the strongest. An Eastern European derby in the decisive match would not have come as a surprise to him under any circumstances, and he cited 1w Team’s early elimination as the biggest surprise, also lamenting the poor performances of LGD Gaming and Aurora Gaming.

In response to syndereN’s comment that some of the problems were caused by an unfavorable team draw and that BetBoom Team had an overly easy path, Shannon countered that the lack of group stage matches was more to blame, and that the element of chance cannot be completely ruled out. As an example, he cited college basketball tournaments, where the single-elimination format only adds to the excitement by creating various possible outcomes, and noted that the best team doesn’t always have to win—from a spectator’s perspective, he finds this acceptable. Troels emphasized that he isn’t opposed to this approach in general, but double-elimination seems like the better choice to him, and he would never agree to the EWC 2026 format for The International.

syndereN highly praised the first two chapters from a narrative standpoint, ranking them higher than “The Fallen Crown.” He likes Valve’s current approach of weaving more humor and irony into the narrative, moving away from the excessive epicness of the old comics. In his view, almost everything the developers are writing now is steeped in satire: the characters remain interesting, but they act a bit strangely and make silly remarks. He compared this approach to the movie *In Bruges*, where the story and acting were combined with an abundance of catchphrases and amusing dialogue.

Troels got the impression that the creators sincerely wanted to create a cohesive, high-quality product and put a tremendous amount of effort into the event. It was precisely a lack of effort that players had often criticized the company for over the past couple of years, but “Dark Carnival” has taken things to the next level. The event evokes nothing but positive emotions, and he considers the result truly awesome.

SUNSfan is convinced that the draft should be cut roughly in half, because right now it’s unnecessarily drawn out. In response to concerns that teams won’t have time for well-thought-out picks, he said that captains simply have to learn to work faster, and over time everyone will adapt, and the playing field will even out again.

The 2026 Dota 2 Esports World Cup took place in France from July 7 to 19. Twenty-four teams participated in the tournament, and PARIVISION took first place, defeating BetBoom Team in the grand final.

Photo by Shannon “SUNSfan” Scott.