“They're incredibly good right now and their whole line-up is at a very high level” - Quinn on PARIVISION

Former professional players Quinn 'Quinn' Callahan and Aiden 'iNSaNiA' Sarkoi discussed the main contenders for victory at The International 2026 on the ALL CHAT podcast, and also assessed the influence of Yaroslav 'Miposhka' Naydenov on the game of Team Spirit after his return as a coach.

I think my favorites are PARIVISION. Yes, they won the last tournaments, so this is the easiest conclusion to draw, but it’s not just that. Each of their players is now at a very high individual level.

The only thing that confuses me a little is the history of the team’s performances at The International. At the last tournament they should have reached the finals and could well have won the championship. However, in the match against Xtreme, they simply faltered and lost due to their own mistakes.

[You mean because of No[o]ne errors? ] I don’t want to say that it was because of him, but if you remember the Virtus.pro lineups in which he performed, they, too, could have achieved much more at The International. No[o]ne is an incredibly strong player, but his results at TI do not always correspond to the level of play and results that the team shows during the season. Despite this, I still consider PARIVISION to be the favorites of the tournament. They are incredibly good right now and their entire roster is at a very high level.

I think Spirit look like a real team again. I see glimpses of greatness in their playing again. It seems to me that this began to manifest itself immediately after his return.

I remember one very specific moment during their draft. Then analysts and commentators discussed that the opponent took their mid laner, and Spirit responded by choosing Tidehunter for the difficult lane. Everyone was wondering, “Why did they do this? Why not take a hero who is usually chosen against this character?

But people who really understand the game at a high level know that there is a lot more nuance to Dota. They chose Tidehunter against Ember, and this was exactly the case where Ember had almost no options left. He couldn't play well, couldn't find space and just died with every mistake. Then I thought, “This actually makes sense.” Spirit had all the tools to make Tidehunter incredibly strong against Ember.

It seems to me that it is decisions like these that show the level of understanding of the game. This is something that a person who really has a deep understanding of Dota at a professional level can do. And it seems to me that this is exactly what Miposhka brought to the team again. I think that's what they were missing before.

Previously, iNSaNiA and Quinn commented on PlayTime’s disqualification from the Esports World Cup 2026, and also criticized Team Liquid’s performance at the last tournaments of the season.