Win Condition #9: kaffs talks about the troubles of the team and The International

South American Dota 2 has been through the wringer this year, and this can especially be said for Igor “kaffs” Estevão, who joins us on Win Condition Episode 9. Although the team is now under the LGD Gaming banner, it has been no easy road for the coach. Now, with the Esports World Cup and The International 2026, we get to hear from the man himself how everything is lining up for the squad.

Win Condition: kaffs takes us through EWC, GotF, and TI

Kicking off this iteration of Win Condition, we welcomed kaffs, who gave us some insights into how the team communicates with the LGD organisation, before we went into a breakdown of the qualifiers which the team has been a part of through the year. He led us through LGD’s qualifiers for both EWC and TI and gave us information on the team’s tough journey through the first half of the year.

With a very rough year, which saw them losing to PlayTime (Peru Rejects at the time) twice in qualifiers, before the HEROIC organisation stepped away from Dota 2, leaving them behind. The turnaround for the team has been immense, and we now see the South Americans playing under the banner of a Chinese organisation.

South America’s singular slot

SA regional qualifiers for TI saw them only receive a singular slot at the event, which became extremely rough with multiple brilliant teams looking to get to the grand stage. Not only was it LGD and PT, but the region also saw Team Nemesis, Amaru Gaming, and many others chomping at the bit. We took a closer look at the region, a possible merge of North and South America in the future, and the reputation of SA at TI, which has seen many previous teams make some amazing runs.

The road ahead

With an extremely busy few months ahead, which includes a verifiable “Group of Death” at the EWC, before Games of the Future and TI, LGD and kaffs have a long journey on the way. The team stands in Group D for the upcoming EWC, with the likes of 1w Team (ex-Tundra), Team Yandex, Virtus.pro, OG, and IC x Insanity. With a lot of traveling on the cards, and a packed schedule, things could get a bit hairy for the team, and kaffs explains how there is a good and a bad to this from the past and looking ahead.

Wrapping up another Win Condition, kaffs speaks briefly about the TI dream, and how massive it would be for the region, and even LGD, if they could pull off something amazing.

The full episode of Win Condition: Dota 2 and our previous episodes can all be found on the rdy.gg YouTube Channel and Spotify.