Vasilisa on The International 2026: “Maybe this Int will be a celebration for Eastern Europe—who knows?”

In my opinion, very few teams [outside of Eastern Europe] have enough time to work on their mistakes before TI. In fact, during the upcoming roster reshuffles, players from our region will be much more in demand than those from other regions. Maybe this Int will be a celebration for Eastern Europe—who knows.

I really, really want “Aganim’s Labyrinth”—I can’t wait. We’re missing some kind of event where you can team up with friends regardless of your rating and just have fun. There weren’t any modes like that in “The Fallen Crown,” nor in “The Dark Carnival.” Actually, there are some really cool mini-games right now: I play “Castle Break-In” every day.

It’s actually really simple for me. In previous years, when I was invited to work at the International, I was never at home. I was at some hotel for a tournament. So, I didn’t have a microphone or anything. I just stack three pillows, cover myself with a blanket, and record it on a voice recorder.

From that, I pick out an eight- or ten-minute track of mumbling or total nonsense. You just say whatever pops into your head. Then I try to edit out the parts I like, save them, and listen back the next day to cut out the unnecessary stuff. Last year there was an editing process, so I got feedback on the first batch: “Nothing’s been accepted; it’s all toxic.” Then the pillow process repeats itself, and you send the tracks hoping they’ll accept at least something.

I actually always watch these kinds of competitions. When it comes to Dota, there are always people I know playing in these tournaments, and it’s interesting to watch them. Even when it comes to the 2026 Sberbank Russian Championship: I was on the same team as bashka [Ilya “bashka” Tsvetinsky] at Streamers Battle. Everyone knows Slava asdekor_r [Vyacheslav “asdekor_r” Ignatyev] because he does a lot of streams and community casts. And, of course, Kolya Kaban [Nikolai “kolya_kaBAN68” Khalyapin], who constantly “spices up” streamer tournaments with his gameplay or his tardiness.

You never know who will end up playing against whom in these tournaments. The level is still lower than Tier 1, so sworn enemies can end up on the same team simply because they’re from the same region.