Dota 2
CS2
All rdy: Your weekly recap of December 22nd-28th
Nothing is ever stagnant or dull when it comes to the Dota 2 scene. Amidst the constant swirl of drama, tournaments, patches, and roster swaps, there’s always something unfolding behind the stage. From surprise upsets and standout performances to off-stage hiccups, each week brings a fresh mix of chaos and exctiment to our favorite (and often times most hated) game.
Tournaments
ESL Birmingham 2026
The first six direct invites for ESL Birmingham 2026 have been announced. Tundra Esports, Xtreme Gaming, PARIVISION, OG, Team Spirit, and Team Yandex secured their spots via their ESL Pro Tour rankings. The remaining spots will be filled via qualifiers which will take place from January 16-20th. The qualifiers for China will be held from January 30 to February 1 as part of the ESL Challenger China.
ESL Birmingham 2026 is set to take place March 22nd- 29th. As usual, the tournament's prize pool will be $1,000,000, and will feature 16 teams.
DreamLeague Season 28
Six teams —Tundra Esports, Xtreme Gaming, PARIVISION, OG, Team Spirit, and Team Yandex— received direct slots based on the results of the ESL Pro Tour 2025/2026 season. Yes, the same six teams for ESL Birmingham 2026.
One slot in the tournament will be awarded to the champion of Division 2 Season 3 while the remaining spots will be decided through regional qualifiers. The qualifiers will take place from January 9 to 11, 2026. The Chinese slot will be contested in the ESL Challenger China, scheduled from January 30 to February 1, 2026.
DreamLeague Season 28 will be held online from February 16 to March 1, 2026 and will feature 16 teams fighting for the lion's share of the $1,000,000 prize pool.
Players and Teams
HEROIC
After almost a year together, HEROIC has parted ways with support player Elvis "Scofield" Peña. The Peruvian player took home a historic 5-6th place finish with the team at The International 2025. Since then the results have ranged from first place at FISSURE Universe: Episode 7 to 17th-21st at DreamLeague Season 27.
There is no word yet on his replacement or what Scofield's future plans are.
Chinese Dota
The Chinese scene right now is ain a full shake up. Over the course of the last five days, there has been changes invovling at least five teams. We'll try to simplify and sum it all up for you.
Team Tidebound announced the entire roster was moved to 'inactive' status after just under one year.
ViCi Gaming initially announced on Weibo dropping Lou "Lou" Zhen (Lou), Xiong "pyw" Jiahan, and Ding "Dy" Cong. They then picked up Guo "shiro" Xuanang, Lin "planet" Hao, and Zhang "y丶" Yiping. These three new players came in from Team Tidebound.
Zhou "Emo" Yi from Yakult Brothers was moved to 'inactive' status while Nicholas "zeal" Lim transfered to a new team formed called "Team Refuser". In their place, Yakult Brothers have picked up Sun "Srf" Runfa and Kam "Moon" Boon Seng.
Team Refuser, newly formed, is comprised of Dy and pyw from ViCi Gaming, along wtih Yang "Erika" Shaohan, Nicholas "Suan" Lim Eng Hanand, and featuring Zhang "Paparazi灬" Chengjun who has reemerged after retiring in summer 2023. Team Refuser's first match will be the Blast Malta China Qualifier in early January.
Lou, the last member of ViCi Gaming without a home is now part of a new lineup associated with Yakult Brothers called Yakult Brothers Tearlament. He will be joined by Xu "Echo" Ziliang and Li "niu" Kongbo (both formerly on Tidebound), He "TK" Boyi, and Zhang "zzq" Ziqiang.
This regional roster shuffle has our heads spinning, but it isn't quite unexpected considering the start of the 2025/2026 year has been a disaster.
Updates and Patches
Patch
Just one week after the 7.40 gameplay update, Valve has released a swift follow-up to balance things out. Nerfs on Tidehunter, Kez, Windranger, and Drow Ranger.
If you can’t keep up with all the news happening, don’t stress — All rdy has you covered. Every Monday, we round up the biggest headlines, hidden gems, and moments you might’ve missed, so you can start your week informed and ontop of it all.