Team Spirit’s new squad, Xtreme Gaming’s coaching drama, Sundabule goes to “OG University”: Dota 2’s controversial week

There was no shortage of spicy roster shuffles, controversial opinions, and behind-the-scenes drama in the Dota 2 scene this past week.

I’ve spent the time digging around forums and socials to present you with the most impactful stories from the past few days. One thing’s for sure, Dota 2 esports is never quiet.

If there was one managerial strategy Team Spirit has constantly relied on whenever things start looking shaky, it’s digging into their pseudo-academy roster, Yellow Submarine, and promoting players to the main squad.

It’s no secret that the two-time TI-winning team has not looked like its usual selves throughout 2026, and changes have felt inevitable. As a result, the squad has benched their newest recruit, Nikita “panto” Balaganin, in favor of Yellow Submarine prospect Alexey “not me” Kosmynin. The move has also shifted Aleksandr “rue” Filin to the position five role, while not me has stepped in as the team’s new position four.

At its first rodeo at DreamLeague Season 29, Team Spirit is starting to look like it’s found its rhythm again, going 6-1 in groups and already locking in a top-six finish at the time of writing.

Not me has immediately looked like a great fit for the roster, constantly running around the map like a shark and looking for plays. As a result, we’ve seen Team Spirit easily take the fights they were always so good at winning. It feels like they’ve returned to their old identity, and it’s always a treat to watch.

The team is still searching for its first trophy of the 2026 season, and with how they’ve been playing at DreamLeague, this wait might not last much longer.

While the new Team Spirit roster is off to a roaring start, one party that got the short end of the stick was Panto, who received the bad news after only seven months with the team. Fortunately for him, it didn’t take long before the European squad MOUZ came calling, signing him as the team’s new position five player on loan.

MOUZ recently parted ways with three-time Major-winning captain Melchior “Seleri” Hillenkamp, who decided to hang up the mouse and retire from pro play entirely. In my eyes, there really aren’t too many strong position five players on the market right now, which explains why the German organization wasted no time bringing Panto on board. 

On paper, the move makes sense for both sides. Panto gets another shot on a competitive roster, while MOUZ adds one of the most experienced players available – someone with plenty to prove after his short stint on Team Spirit. 

After winning PGL Wallachia Season 6 in November last year, MOUZ have yet to post any notable results. With the Esports World Cup and The International right around the corner, it’ll need this roster move with Panto to work out. 

We all love a little bit of drama, right? Chinese superteam Xtreme Gaming hasn’t had the greatest showing at DreamLeague Season 29, especially in their group stage series against Nigma Galaxy.

In the first game, star carry Wang “Ame” Chunyu was picked off around the 31-minute mark, and immediately rage-quit despite the game still looking playable. He immediately typed “gg” in all chat, forcing an early concession. 

Sure, things were looking bleak in the game, but the team could have at least gone for one last hurrah before Ame ripped the two letters. 

According to Chinese insiders on Telegram under the handle “Chinese Muesli,” the team has been unhappy with how coach Zhang “xiao8” Ning has handled drafts, which may have contributed to internal tensions during the series. 

After the series, xiao8 was no longer seen drafting in the following matches, with the team’s assistant coach Wang “Maps” Yutian taking the helm instead.

This does look like a very messy situation, considering how long xiao8 and the Xtreme Gaming core have worked together. Seeing such a long-running partnership potentially fall apart mid-tournament is something you hate to see, especially for Chinese fans.

Tundra captain Neta “33” Shapira was brought in for a post-match interview after a series in DreamLeague Season 29, which also happens to be a qualifier for the upcoming Esports World Cup. 

With Tundra Esports locking in their spot for the event, 33 was asked for his thoughts leading up to the tournament:

“EWC is going to be a great tournament, I always enjoy playing it. This time, it is ‘only’ 2 million dollars, which is the same as having DreamLeague into BLAST in like two weeks time. So in that sense, it’s not the most important tournament – sorry to say that on an ESL stream. But everyone still really wants to play it, and $2 million is of course a really big amount.”

Now, 33 wasn’t sounding ungrateful for playing in a multi-million dollar tournament or anything – but I get his point. The only thing EWC really had going for it was its monumental prize pools. 

The 2023 iteration featured an insane $15 million prize, even exceeding The International’s that year. However, it has since dropped to $5 million, then $3 million, and now just $2 million this year. 

Yes, $2 million is still a lot of money – don’t get me wrong – but the Dota 2 scene has million-dollar tournaments happening almost every month. So the upcoming EWC, with its current prize pool, does feel like just another event – maybe slightly above a standard one at best. 

Fans on Reddit were largely in agreement with his sentiment. One Redditor put it bluntly: “Honestly, even that is a bit too much considering how low the viewers were on the recent tournaments. Won’t be surprised to see them lower the prize pool next year.”

To end the recap on a lighter note, we have a pretty funny story from REKONIX’s former coach Gregorius “Sundabule” Prasetyo.

Being Indonesian himself, Sundabule worked with REKONIX to help revive the local Dota 2 scene, and was pretty effective in doing so. The team qualified for several S-Tier events, and even though they finished last in most of them, they were at least putting their country back on the map. 

However, the 25-year-old eventually left the team in April, saying he wanted to focus on his master’s degree. The team respected his decision and let him go. Well, clearly there was a change of plans, as SEA rivals OG announced his signing as the team’s new analyst. 

Indonesian fans have been memeing the move, joking that he’s now studying at “OG University.” It’s also hilarious that Indonesians and Filipinos have a long-standing, healthy rivalry in the scene, and that Sundabule essentially jumped ships. 

Jokes aside, OG, with their newest member Alexander “TORONTOTOKYO” Khertek, still has plenty of work ahead of them. An extra pair of hands from an experienced coach like Sundabule will surely help the team figure things out.