Vasilisa about Team Spirit: “I think they will take their top 8 or top 6 at Inta, but not higher”

Host Vasilisa 'Vasilisa' Chernova in an interview discussed the chances of Team Spirit and Team Falcons at The International 2026, named the favorites of the main tournament of the year, and also shared her opinion about the situation with the pole in the Paragon studio.

[Published with the original spelling and punctuation preserved]

[Do you think it will be predictable? ] No, he definitely won’t be predictable. Where? Our Esports World Cup 2026 for Dota 2 turned out to be unpredictable, and then The International. It will definitely not be within the predicted limits, 100%. All sorts of Vici Gaming, for example, will clearly prepare more strategies, the same Nigma Galaxy... I think there will be no obvious passages at all. It’s already very difficult to even say who will win now. We can, of course, highlight two favorites - Team Yandex and PARIVISION. But this is also debatable - how ready will Team Yandex be? She didn’t exactly fail the EWC, but she didn’t play in the prime. Therefore, there will definitely be no predictable layouts at TI.

I don't think Spirit needs to change anything globally. Miposhka came first of all to raise the supports. Because the supports... it’s not that they are not up to the level, but their skills need to be developed a little for this team. But this is not done in a month. That is, it takes about six months for them to confidently begin to shine and play Dota 2 consistently. I think that at Inta they will occupy their top 8 or top 6, but not higher. But with the arrival of Miposhka, there will be progress in any case.

It will be hard. On the other hand, you have to watch how Cr1t- and Sneyking will play, because for one of them this is 100% Last Dance, and Falcons has always depended on how well the supports play. That is, if Sneyking goes out to farm on supports and comes out with Enchantress in his six slots, the team will calmly drag out the game.

How ready will Stas Malr1ne be? He either has Disneyland with his wife (laughs), or streams - let’s play on Pudge in the mid or on Io. It probably depends only on desire. The Falcons are truly a team of desire. Defend [Aegis] - no, but I think it will definitely make it into the top 4. Again, if the players want.

Well, just a giga soul? I'll tell BetBoom Team. With my gigadsoul I want Vitaly 'Save-' Melnik to pick up the plate. This is straight up gigasoul.

[ Is there a team in gigadoos that you think will goof up? ] I don’t want to wish anything bad, but it seems to me that everything will be bad for Aurora. It didn’t go well for her at EWC, it didn’t go well at all. There is such a vibe that she just begins to deflate. Not a disband, but I think Aurora will not show results.

You know, sometimes I like Paragon's ideas, but they seem to be made at the wrong time and in the wrong place. A year ago, for example, there was women's analytics. They would have made it... I don’t remember the date, maybe I’ll talk about them now. If they had done it on March 8, no one would have said anything. And when this is done for the grand final, questions arise: “Why?” It's a good idea, why not? It just needs to be timed to coincide with something - that would be okay.

It would be one thing if it was in the media, in some recorded video on YouTube or somewhere else, but when it was broadcast directly during the broadcast... I was shocked. We had a similar scene on TBD, but it was a pre-scene before the broadcast. There a fireman was jumping from a pole, this topic was discussed. But at least that was the beginning. They just joked, figuratively speaking, they just giggled, made a point - and that’s it. But there they really spent a lot of time on it. On the one hand, this is an information feed. This is being discussed, this is PR and all that. On the other hand, something is somehow too much. They just went too far. Perhaps if he just stood there it would be okay. Or just, I don't know, Santa would take it and walk around in a circle holding it and do nothing. But when the acrobatic performances from the talents themselves began, it confused me.

Previously, Vasilisa 'Vasilisa' Chernova spoke about the release of a support kit with her new voice phrases for the chat wheel.