The favorites for PGL Wallachia Season 9 have been determined: roster analysis and tournament predictions from analysts

The organizers of PGL Wallachia Season 9 have announced the teams' rosters for the championship. Team Yandex and 1WIN Team remain among the top contenders for the title according to analysts, as they posted strong results last season and made only one substitution each ahead of the tournament.

1WIN Team will compete with a stand-in: Indji Shad Lub will replace Ivan Pure Moskalenko, who will miss the championship due to visa issues. Although this change doesn’t appear to strengthen the roster, the team is still considered a formidable opponent for the rest of the tournament’s participants.

Ammar ATF al-Assaf has joined Team Yandex. The champion of The International 2025 has long established himself as one of the best offlaners and is nominally considered a reinforcement for the team. However, it remains to be seen how quickly ATF will adapt to his new squad after a long stint with Team Falcons and whether the roster will be able to demonstrate a high level of team play at their first tournament.

The Natus Vincere roster has remained unchanged since last season. The team’s results in the first half of 2026 deteriorated noticeably, and the roster failed to qualify for The International 2026 and EWC 2026. But after TI15 qualifiers, NAVI began to demonstrate confident play once again. The team won two tournaments in the EPL Masters series and went undefeated in the closed qualifiers for BLAST Slam VIII and BLAST Slam IX. Perhaps the team has finally found its rhythm and will be able to surprise everyone at the LAN championship in Bucharest.

Xtreme Gaming's new lineup also looks promising, with some of China's best players once again rallying around Van Ame Chunyu, as does the Conventus Stellarum roster, built around former Nigma Galaxy players — Artem Lorenof Melnik, Omar OmaR Moughrabi and Kuro KuroKy Salehi Tahasomi. However, players on both teams showed inconsistent results last season and are not considered the top favorites for the upcoming championship.

The newly formed LGD Gaming roster can be described in a similar way. The fifth spot on the roster is held by the extremely experienced Jinjun Sneyking Wu, but the chemistry of this multinational team which includes two South Americans and former Nigma Galaxy players (Cedric Davai Deckmyn and Said Sumail SumaiL Hassan, who has returned to the mid lane) remains in question.

Aurora Gaming also bolstered its roster ahead of PGL Wallachia S9 with a former Team Falcons player — Oliver skiter Lepko replaced Yegor Nightfall Grigorenko in the carry position. However, the team will field a forced substitution at the tournament: Rafli Fatur Mikoto Rahman will miss the championship for personal reasons, and Igor Stojkov Stojkov will play in his place. The esports player from North Macedonia has virtually no experience competing on the Tier 1 scene and hasn’t won a single professional match in the last three months, which is why, according to analysts, Aurora will have a hard time advancing far in the tournament bracket.

Also competing at PGL Wallachia S9 will be a number of teams from South America featuring some of the region’s most renowned players: PlayTime, Team Cobra, Hokori, and Pibbles Corp. However, their chances of finishing high in this international LAN tournament are once again considered slim, as they rarely manage to crack the top 6 or even advance to the main stage of the championship. Other underdogs include Team Nemesis, Pipsqueak+4, Yakult Brothers, MOUZ, and GamerLegion.

Tournament winner odds:

• Team Yandex — 2.8
• 1WIN Team — 5.8
• Aurora Gaming — 5.8
• LGD Gaming — 8.5
• Xtreme Gaming — 8.5
• Conventus Stellarum — 8.5
• Natus Vincere — 12.0
• Pipsqueak+4 — 30.0
• GamerLegion — 30.0
• Yakult Brothers — 50.0
• Team Nemesis — 75.0
• Team Cobra — 75.0
• PlayTime — 100.0
• MOUZ — 100.0
• Hokori — 100.0
• Pibbles Corp — 100.0

PGL Wallachia Season 9 will take place from 19.09.2026 to 27.09.2026 in Bucharest, Romania. Sixteen teams will compete for a prize pool of $1,000,000. You can follow the competition in detail in the coverage.

As CyberScore previously reported, the participants in BLAST Slam VIII have been announced.