Sneyking on what it takes to win: "You have to be better than the other team in almost every aspect"

Team Falcons support Jingjun 'Sneyking' Wu, in an interview at The International 2026, spoke about preparations for the tournament, assessed its competitiveness, and also spoke about the current meta.

I think we had a pretty good bootcamp overall. We have definitely improved our skills and might even have been able to do better at 1win Essence II. We lost to Team Liquid with a score of 0-3, but I think the first and third maps were pretty close. We learned a lot from these games. I think the bootcamp was good.

[ Let's talk about the previous TIs you participated in. In the past you won. What are your favorite TI memories? ] This is definitely the first time I've been on stage because I don't think I've had that before The International 2018. It was the first time I played in front of an audience, and it was incredibly exciting: thousands of fans in the arena cheering, the lights under my feet, all in the booth at TI. It was very magical, a very special feeling.

[Your performance during the season did not match your usual performance. Is it difficult to maintain this level? Or is this a natural decline after a big victory? ] When a team achieves good results, it becomes difficult to slow down. I think people often adapt to success, and we used to be successful too. We know we are capable of a lot, but we strive to always be on top, because as soon as you relax and become complacent, there will always be a competitor who will catch up with you.

[Being champions means that others want to beat you even more than usual. Is it possible to say that? Do you think everyone is especially preparing for you because you won The International 2025? ] I wouldn't say that all eyes are on us right now. I think now more attention is paid to PARIVISION and Team Yandex. I think this is due to the recent results: these two teams took first and second places in the last tournaments. Therefore, I think we are a little less noticeable, which is good, because you don’t want to be the center of attention all the time either.

[ How do you evaluate the current TI in comparison with previous ones? ] I think that there are practically no weak teams at TI this year. It seems to me that in terms of strength the teams are much closer to each other than ever before. It all depends on whether you are having a bad day or a good day. During the group stage, everything can change very quickly.

[Where have all these weak teams gone? Is it the other teams that have caught up or has the meta just somehow leveled everyone out? What smoothed out the differences between the teams? ] I think everyone just realized to some extent that knowledge used to give an advantage. That advantage in understanding the game, that gap in knowledge that some teams used to have, has now practically disappeared. I think over the last few years teams have improved a lot in all these areas where previously you might have had a little better understanding of the game or a little better team chemistry than your opponent. Now, I think, it is no longer possible to win simply because you are a little better than your opponent in some one aspect. You need to be better than the other team in almost every aspect.

I think the current meta is not serving us well. It seems to me that many of our signature heroes that we like to play with are not particularly relevant right now. So the meta definitely played to our disadvantage. But we are still looking for something that will work.

Earlier, Alexey 'Solo' Berezin shared his opinion on the state of Team Falcons at The International 2026.