New pro-scene records and predictions for the next round: highlights from Maincast’s analysis of the Esports World Cup 2026

In the latest episode of the Maincast podcast, Bogdan Aelnis Zaverukha, Igor IHTL Rudyi, and Alexander Connor Kotov discussed the results of the group stage at the Esports World Cup 2026, highlighted key moments, and made predictions for the next stage of the tournament.

The analysts considered the performance of the revamped Nigma Galaxy roster — which took first place in its group — to be the biggest surprise of the group stage. At the same time, some teams considered consistent favorites, such as Liquid, did not perform at their best at one of the year’s major tournaments.

In addition, the casters criticized the system for allocating slots in the EWC qualifiers — specifically, the four slots allocated to Eastern Europe, even though the region’s top teams had already received invites. As a result, many frankly weak teams made it into the tournament and were eliminated with almost no maps won.

Maincast also noted that several players achieved significant milestones during the group stage: Vladimir No[o]ne Minenko surpassed the 1,500-map win mark on the pro scene; Daniyal yamich Lazebny took first place in the number of professional games played as Pudge, surpassing Danil Dendi Ishutin, who had held the record for 15 years; and Ilya Yatoro Mulyarchuk recorded his 34th career rampage and now, like Alonso Kotaro Leon, is second only to Amer Miracle- Al-Barkawi in this statistic.

Speaking of predictions for the next stage, the podcast guests agreed that the favorites in each matchup are clear — the teams that finished second in their groups and secured a spot in the “survival” round quarterfinals should easily advance to the playoffs (BetBoom Team, 1WIN Team, Team Spirit, Aurora Gaming).

However, analysts believe that the matchup between BB Team and LGD Gaming could be an intriguing and competitive series in the upcoming stage of the tournament, and that PlayTime might surprise 1WIN Team. At the same time, in their opinion, neither Team Liquid nor Xtreme Gaming will be able to defeat Team Spirit.

The Esports World Cup 2026 for Dota 2 runs from 07.07.2026 to 19.07.2026. Twenty-four teams will compete for a prize pool of $2,000,000. You can follow the tournament in detail in our coverage.

As CyberScore previously reported, KJ commented on LGD’s performance in the group stage of the Esports World Cup 2026.