WoE on Level UP’s defeat in the TI 2026 qualifiers: “It’s all to be expected; we weren’t able to practice.”
Level UP carry Nikolay “WoE” Ruban commented on the team’s results in the open qualifiers for The International 2026 on his personal Telegram channel.
The quote is reproduced with the source’s spelling and punctuation intact
We lost the open qualifiers for The International, twice 2-1 in super close maps; it’s incredibly frustrating. The moment of our loss to Chikibabamboni on the third map was super tilt-inducing, and it affected the whole team. On the other hand, it was to be expected—we didn’t get to practice, and many of us weren’t in top form. Again, the whole team didn’t have the chance to play Dota properly after the EWC qualifiers, for the reasons listed above.
We’ve just arrived at bootcamp; we’ll be getting into shape ahead of the upcoming EWC and applying for visas (I’ll let you know as soon as I get them or don’t).
There still won’t be any streams; I’ll try to get in a few quick matches between boot camp and the flight to France (hopefully it happens)
. Thanks so much for the support; we’ll give it our all in Paris (I just hope we make it out of the group stage...)
- Read also: Malady on Team Yandex’s missing titles: “Only the EWC and The International are left for us”
Earlier, Level UP lost to 4ikibamboni 1-2 in the final of the second open qualifier for The International 2026 in Europe and failed to qualify for the main championship of the year. The team’s next match will take place as part of the Esports World Cup 2026.
Photo — Valve.
