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

There is no shortage of bitter programming, controversial opinions, and behind-the-scenes drama Dota 2 incident this past week.

I spent time digging through forums and social media to present the most impactful stories of the past few days. One thing is for sure, Dota 2 esports is not quiet.

If there was one management strategy Team Spirit always rely on it whenever things start to falter, tap into their pseudo-academy, the Yellow Submarine, and promote players to the main squad.

It’s no secret that the two-time TI winning team hasn’t looked the same throughout 2026, and changes feel inevitable. Because of this, the team benched their new recruit, Nikita “panto” Balaganin, in favor of the Yellow Submarine prospect. Alexey “not me” Kosmynin. The move moved Aleksandr “rue” Filin to the fifth position, and it wasn’t me who moved into the fourth position of the team.

In their first rodeo in DreamLeague Season 29, Team Spirit is starting to look like they’ve found their rhythm again, going 6-1 as a team and already locked in the bottom six at the time of writing.

Not me, I immediately looked like a fit for the program, always running around the map like a shark and looking for games. As a result, we’ve seen Team Spirit take it easy in battles they’ve always been very good at winning. It feels like they’re back to their old selves, and it’s always fun to watch.

The team is still searching for its first trophy of the 2026 season, and with the way they have been playing in the DreamLeague, this wait may not be long.

While the new Team Spirit lineup got off to a flying start, one team that got the short end of the stick was Pantowho received this bad news after only seven months with the team. Fortunately for him, it didn’t take long before the European team MOUZ he came calling, and signed him as a new player for the club on loan.

MOUZ recently parted ways with three-time medal-winning captain Melchior “Seleri” Hillenkamp, ​​who decided to hang up and retire from the prestigious game altogether. In my eyes, there aren’t many strong five players on the market right now, which explains why the German outfit wasted no time in bringing Panto on board.

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

After winning PGL Wallachia Season 6 in November last year, MOUZ has yet to post any notable results. With the Esports World Cup and the International around the corner, it will need this Panto travel plan to work.

We all love a little drama, right? The Chinese team Xtreme Games didn’t have a great showing in DreamLeague Season 29, especially in their group stage series against Nigma Galaxy.

In the first game, Wang “Ame” Chunyu was kicked out at the 31st minute, and then angrily quit even though the game still looked unplayable. He immediately typed “gg” in every conversation, forcing the first permission.

Sure, things looked bleak in the game, but the team couldn’t at least he went one last time before Ame ripped two bullets.

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

After the series, xiao8 did not appear to write in the following games, with the team’s assistant coach Wang “Maps” Yutian taking over.

This seems like a very bad situation, considering how long the xiao8 and Xtreme Gaming core have been working together. Seeing a long-standing partnership fall apart in the middle of a tournament is something you don’t like to see, especially for Chinese fans.

Captain Tundra Neta “33” Shapira brought to a post-game interview after the DreamLeague Season 29 series, which is also a playoff game Esports World Cup.

With Tundra Esports To wrap up their place in the event, 33 was asked about his thoughts ahead of the tournament. Instead of giving the usual PR answers, the two-time TI winner had something different to say:

“EWC is a great tournament, I enjoy playing there, but this time there’s only 2 million dollars on the line. That’s like winning the BLAST and DreamLeague tournaments in a few weeks. It’s not the most important tournament. Sorry to say this on ESL radio.”

And honestly, the man has a point. The only thing that EWC used to have in store was its commemorative prize pools. The 2023 iteration featured an insane prize pool of $15 million, even surpassing the International that year. However, it has since dropped to $5 million, then $3 million, and now $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 host of awards, feels like just an event; maybe a little bit above very high quality.

33 quickly apologized for sharing his brutal opinion on the stream, but Reddit fans largely agreed with his sentiments. One Redditor put it bluntly: “Honestly, even that is overkill considering how low viewership has been in recent tournaments. Wouldn’t be surprised to see them drop the prize pool next year.”

To end the report on a lighter note, we have a funny story from a former coach of REKONIX Gregorius “Sundabule” Prasetyo.

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

However, the 25-year-old left the club in April, saying he wanted to focus on his master’s studies. The team respected his decision and let him go. Well, obviously there has been a change of plans, just like the SEA rivals OG announced his signing as the team’s new analyst.

Indonesian fans have been celebrating this move, joking that he is now studying at “OG University.” It’s also interesting that Indonesians and Filipinos have a long-standing, healthy rivalry in the scene, and that Sundabule actually skips ships.

Jokes aside, OG, and their new member Alexander “TORONTOTOKYO” Khertek, still have a lot of work ahead of them. The extra hands from an experienced coach like Sundabule will certainly help the team see things through.