SUNSfan: “To be honest, I think the current meta is pretty boring.”

Commentators Shannon 'SUNSfan' Scotten and Troels 'syndereN' Nielsen assessed the Esports World Cup 2026 as part of the We Say Things podcast, and also spoke about the format without a lower bracket and the feasibility of holding a match for third place.

SUNSfan: To be honest, I find the current meta to be pretty boring. In the group stage there were series up to two, victories, and in the playoffs - up to three. And KheZu and I each match ended with a score of 2-0. Every match we commentated ended in a clean sheet, and almost all the matches - maybe with the exception of two of the total - followed the same formulaic, methodical script. You knew in advance what would happen.

SUNSfan: I know that this format has received a lot of criticism. And I want to say that I like single-elimination. I think this format is much better. The problem is that the meta itself is terrible. That's why the games turn out bad. This has nothing to do with the presence or absence of a lower mesh at all. I believe that in general we need to make Dota a more spectacular eSports discipline for spectators. And part of that, I think, is moving to a format without a bottom bracket. And the second thing is to cut the draft time in half, because now it takes an absurdly long time.

People might say, "But teams won't have time to think through all the picks." Well, then you'll have to get together and learn. The best captains will still win. And after all teams adapt to this, the conditions will again become equal for everyone.

syndereN: So you want to keep the current draft format, just cut the time in half?

SUNSfan: I don't care what format it will be, we just need to make the drafts faster. [...] Part of the problem is how the playoff seeds were distributed. I agree with this because BetBoom Team had easy series. We can say that there were simply not enough matches in the group stage. Again, part of this is down to chance. There is no ideal system.

If you look at college basketball, which I don't really like, but it's one of the biggest sporting events in the United States every year, March Madness. It uses a single mesh. The sowing will still be imperfect. There are huge sensations, but that's what makes the competition more interesting.

The best team doesn't have to always win - it can sometimes get a cap. And that's good for the audience. It's the same with the SuperBowl, the most-watched event in the world. And the World Cup, by the way, also has a format without a lower bracket.

syndereN: If you do a tournament without a lower bracket, then I like the idea of ​​a match for third place for two reasons. Firstly, if you get a bad bracket or an inconvenient opponent, you still have a chance to at least take third place. Secondly, I think this is a very good way to lead up to the grand finale. That's what they did at EWS.

Holding the match for third place on the same day as the grand final is a good option. Because with single-elimination you actually have only one grand final per day. For example, this happens in Counter-Strike 2.

In double-elimination, you still have the final of the lower bracket on the last day. In single-elimination, the third place match can take that place: it attracts spectators, creates more excitement and helps people get more excited about the final - turning it into a full game day.

If you buy a ticket. and all you get is one best-of-three grand final that ends with a crushing 3-0, the question arises: “Did I get enough for my money?” And if on this day you can still watch the match for third place, then it’s more enjoyable for you as a spectator.

So making a third place match when using a single bracket is a good idea. I'm not against that. But I still think that tournaments with a lower bracket are a more successful format. Although I agree that higher stakes matches are great and everyone loves them.

It's also good for variety. I think it's sometimes useful to have single-bracket tournaments. But I personally would never use it at The International. I just don’t think there is a place for this format.

Earlier, Team Yandex players summed up their performance at the Esports World Cup 2026. Alimzhan 'watson' Islambekov, Dmitry 'DM' Dorokhin and Arman 'Malady' Orazbaev spoke about the results.