Tundra leaves the scene, GLYPH’s hilarious clip, Save-‘s 1,000 maps: Dota 2’s wild week

It’s no surprise a squad like the Tundra boys quickly found a new home, but the optics really aren’t great. We’ve already seen paiN Gaming and HEROIC leave this year due to sustainability concerns, but those were mid-sized organizations with middling teams. 

Tundra was – and if we ignore recency bias, still is – the best team in the world this year. If an org as successful as Tundra decides the scene is no longer worth investing in, I wonder what that means for everyone else. 

I think we can all agree that Dota 2 esports isn’t on its best trajectory right now, and if Valve isn’t going to step in, the scene will have to figure it out on its own. Betting companies like 1win have become increasingly visible in the ecosystem, whether they’re funding teams through sponsorships or straight up owning them. 

Now, I’m not saying it’s a great solution, but it’s very possible that Dota 2 will have to lean more heavily on gambling sponsors in the near future. I don’t think it’s the most glamorous look for the scene, but with orgs continuing to drop like flies, that might simply be the reality we’re heading toward.

Whether that’s a good thing is an entirely different conversation.

Speaking of betting site orgs, Vitalie “Save-” Melnic has recently hit a milestone of 1,000 maps played under the BetBoom Team banner. He’s been a constant presence on this team since the 2023 season, weathering every roster shuffle thrown at him.

It hasn’t always been smooth sailing for BB Team, as they actually started out pretty rough. In Save-’s first year, the team couldn’t secure any notable results, but he stuck with them through thick and thin. 

Things started clicking in 2024, with three second-place finishes at S-tier events before the team finally won their first Tier 1 trophy at BLAST Slam I in December 2024, which was also his first LAN trophy. Three more S-tier titles followed, including a recent win at PGL Wallachia Season 8 just two months ago – bringing the BetBoom Team’s trophy count to four, all of which Save- has been a part of. 

In my opinion, Save- has always been one of the most mechanically skilled position four players in the scene, and it’s been like that for a while. This guy is a monster, and I’d go as far as to say he made this team. 

Only a couple of soft support players can rival him, and we’re only talking about the super veterans like Andreas “Cr1t-” Nielsen and Samuel “Boxi” Svahn. Save- easily clears all his new blood counterparts – except for maybe Edgar “9class” Naltakian – in both mechanics and experience.

To commemorate his milestone and loyalty to the team, Save- was gifted a custom 1,000-map BetBoom jersey. He’s definitely one of the most underrated players in the scene. 

With growing concerns about the esports scene, it’s important for players to treasure opportunities and make the most out of them – and that’s exactly what the former HEROIC boys are doing after LGD Gaming put their trust in them. 

Despite entering BLAST Slam 7 as one of the more middling teams, LGD Gaming is playing with no fear and tore through the group stage. The South Americans won 8 out of 11 matches, landing them the top spot in the entire bracket in such a stacked tournament. They’ve even earned themselves a fast pass to the second round of the upper bracket.

Not only do they have to fly to Copenhagen for the rest of BLAST Slam 7, but the LGD Gaming guys are also grinding out the qualifiers for the Esports World Cup. Since they’re currently bootcamping in Europe for BLAST, they registered for the Western European qualifiers instead. 

So, they’re playing qualifiers in the middle of a million-dollar event, and got the job done with ease. They rolled everyone in the qualifiers, taking down NAVI 2-1 in the upper bracket final to secure their spot at the Esports World Cup. 

While LGD Gaming is thriving and headed to the playoffs at BLAST Slam, GLYPH unfortunately got the shorter end of the stick. They’re an unsponsored Southeast Asian stack that dug into their own pockets to compete at this event.

As expected, GLYPH ended up as cannon fodder and was eliminated in last place with a 2-9 record. And though they were sent packing earlier than they’d like, they at least gave us one of the best clips of the year so far. 

In their Best of 1 against Tundra Esports, now 1win, Tri “Jhocam” Kuncoro’s Rubick stole Techies’ Proximity Mines and planted a minefield around the Twin Gate, which is a pretty common strat. 

Tundra was smoked up as four, looking to take the gate to the opposite side of the map and look for a pickoff. Bozhidar “bzm” Bogdanov’s Puck was sent through first, with the rest of the team right behind him.

After completing the teleportation, bzm immediately heard Mines going off and quickly reacted with Phase Shift to dodge the potential explosions. However, the rest of the team didn’t react in time, got blown up by six mines, and died instantly. 

This is hands-down one of the funniest plays we’ve seen this year, and GLYPH will at least be remembered for that. 

The infamous David “Parker” Nicho Flores is back with another band of brothers. This fella is notoriously known for being one of the most skilled carry players in the world, but can’t muster enough professionalism to stay on a team for more than three months.

However, he’s really proficient at forming stacks and carrying them through South American qualifiers for big events. He’s running it back with Estar Backs, where he’s currently competing for a spot in the Esports World Cup – and his chances are as high as they can get. 

South America has two big teams: LGD Gaming and PlayTime. As we covered earlier, the former is playing in the Western European qualifier for this event, while the latter has already secured their spot via direct invite.

So, Parker and the boys only have to go through Team Nemesis as the only worthy opponent. And with how oddly good Parker is at farming qualifiers, their odds look pretty darn good. 

The Estar Backs roster is as follows:

Are we going to get another repeat of the South American Rejects story? Only time – or whether Parker has finally learned his lessons – will tell.