“Without Miposhka, we wouldn’t have even made the playoffs”, — Collapse on Spirit’s performance at The International 2026

Team Spirit offlaner Magomed Collapse Khalilov spoke on the All Chat podcast about Yaroslav Miposhka Naidenov's work after returning to the team as a coach and assessed his contribution to their victory at The International 2026.

Miposhka played for Spirit as a position five for a long time and served as the roster's captain. Together with the club, he became a two-time The International champion, winning the tournament in 2021 and 2023. After The International 2025, Naidenov took a break from his professional career and moved to the inactive roster.

In June 2026, Miposhka returned to Spirit, but this time as the team's second coach. According to Collapse, he initially had doubts about the idea because he knew that Yaroslav had barely played Dota 2 during his break. However, after joining the coaching staff, the former captain quickly adapted and became actively involved in the team's preparation.

When Korb3n told me that he was thinking about a second coach and considering Miposhka, I had my doubts. I knew what he was doing during his break: he was mostly resting and wasn't playing Dota at all. But after he joined the team, he did a lot.

It felt a little unusual to me because I used to play alongside him, and now he's like a commander: he gives us tasks, like playing this hero, practicing certain matchups, or reviewing certain moments.

Collapse noted that Miposhka was involved in draft preparation and analyzing in-game situations. He devoted a particularly large amount of time to the supports, showing them replays, explaining what to do in certain situations, and helping with hero choices. According to Khalilov, Naidenov did a tremendous amount of work with them over several months.

One of Miposhka's ideas for the decisive fifth map of the grand final was to pick Bane. Naidenov had suggested taking the hero in the fourth game, and before the final map, the team decided to do so regardless of the situation. In the end, Spirit secured the hero with its first pick.

The hero played an important role in the closing stages of the match. In one of the key moments, Bane used Nightmare to save his carry in the decisive fight, after which the team won the final map and became tournament champions.

According to the offlaner, Miposhka's role within the team changed significantly after he moved to a coaching position.

Miposhka as a player and as a coach are two different people. He has a lot of time now, and he doesn't need to think about his own game. He's focused on us, our matches, and our strategies. I think that without him, we probably wouldn't have even made the playoffs at TI.

Collapse added that Yaroslav enjoys coaching and will continue working in this direction.

Miposhka's first The International as a coach ended with the club winning the tournament. This became Naidenov's third title, while Team Spirit became the first organization in Dota 2 history to win the main tournament of the year three times.

The International 2026 took place from 13.08.2026 to 23.08.2026 in Shanghai, China. The competition featured 16 teams, while the tournament's prize pool exceeded $3,400,000. You can follow the tournament's results in our coverage.

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