Their battle with “Vision” will decide the fate of the plate - Maelstorm about Team Yandex at TI 2026

Commentator Vladimir 'Maelstorm' Kuzminov spoke about some of the participants in The International 2026. The caster shared his opinion on his personal Telegram channel.

[Published with the original spelling and punctuation preserved]

Eternal top 2. [...]

I loudly said about the eternal top 2, although this is nothing more than a headline. The team has long broken all its curses and is stronger than ever. The progress of their carries is simply incredible, everywhere you look they have solid strengths and a bunch of interesting working features. Can they win? Yes. Can they beat anyone? Not even a question. Are they the main contender for the top 1? Some of them. However, this is one of the teams I see in the finals.

Champions. [...]

Last year's champions, in theory, they approached what only the great OG managed to achieve: becoming champions 2 years in a row without changing the lineup. Although this season is almost the worst for the team, the belief that they can pull together is stronger than ever. After all, OG was terrible throughout 2019, until they came to the intern. I don’t see them in the top 1, but I see them very, very high, no lower than 6 at all. Otherwise, we have been looking at them for so long that you yourself know the fact about the length of the games, the fact that they play as a three, not as a carry, and much more.

People's favorite [...]

As you can see, another favorite who did not receive an invite. The team's season wasn't all that bad, although it's unclear which team played it. Constant vacations, now of one player, now of another. Returns, replacements. As a result, they no longer have coach Silent, Milan, in my opinion, performs strictly formal functions, but it is no longer possible to kick him, since they went to the int with him, but in whom the real faith is, it is in Miposhka. With him, provided that Collapse returns to its prime and Yatoro does not leave it, everything will work out. I have no doubts about the supports, they found very cool newcomers, but if they lose, we all know who is to blame.

Sudden favorites. [...]

I don’t know who expected such a result from Saksa’s test in this team, but it resulted in a series of 11 victories in the second division of the Dream League, and then a victory in the first. A very cool combination of carry-5s, a Kazakh two-man, so to speak. A robot in the mid lane, in the best sense of the word, and an extremely inconvenient 3 for opponents, combined with the best 4 in the world. Not a composition, but a fairy tale. I drew about a dozen candidates for the final, but if we talk about the most likely, then their battle with Vision will decide the fate of the saucer.

Earlier, commentator Vladimir 'Maelstorm' Kuzminov expressed his opinion about teams such as Xtreme Gaming, Team Liquid, 1win Team and Aurora Gaming.