The DreamLeague Season 27 qualifiers just concluded, which is almost crazy to say knowing that it hasn’t even been a full month The International 2025 (TI14) ended. The Dota 2 competitive scene truly never stops, and even some teams that have taken on new or retooled rosters in the wake of the post-International shuffle have already been put to the test.
So which of the new squads have proven themselves worthy of playing at DreamLeague, and which ones have fallen short?
China — Yakult Brothers
First of all, I swear to all of you I’m going to have a nervous breakdown if this team changes name one more time. They were called Yakutou Brothers at TI14, and now they’re back to being Yakult Brothers. Someone please tell them this isn’t healthy.
Anyway, Yakult Brothers coming out of the China qualifiers is no shock at all considering the rest of the field. There’s no Team Tidebound, no Xtreme Gaming, or any other team that would otherwise threaten to steal the qualifier spot from them. Pretty simple.
Southeast Asia — BOOM Esports
A familiar name comes out of the Southeast Asia qualifiers, with BOOM Esports beating everyone to the lone qualifier slot. That includes Team Nemesis (now with Pang “ponyo” Sze Xuan in the hard support role), Execration, and Carlo “Kuku” Palad’s new all-Filipino stack — which interestingly has Djardel “DJ” Mampusti in it.
We are qualified for Dreamleague S27! Thanks for your support, Hungry Beast.#BOOMDota2 pic.twitter.com/htu0uFV67T
— BOOM Esports (@boomesportsid) September 26, 2025
Even more interesting is the fact that the TI14 BOOM Esports roster isn’t the one that played in these qualifiers. The three Filipinos Armel “Armel” Tabios, Timothy “TIMS” Randrup, and Jaunuel “Jaunuel” Arcilla are completely absent from the lineup, replaced by Sukhbat “sanctity-” Otgondavaa, Tri “Jhocam” Kuncoro, and Ravdan “NARMAN” Narmandakh, respectively.
Whether this is actually the organization’s official new roster has yet to be seen, but qualifying for DreamLeague as such probably seals the deal in that regard.
North America — Wildcard
Aside from the retirement of coach Ionut “BliNcc” Musat, the entirety of Wildcard’s TI14 roster has stayed intact. They put on a better performance at the world championship event than many anticipated, and so it’s great to see them sticking together in order to build on what they accomplished.
It’s even better seeing them qualifying for DreamLeague through North America, though given the level of competition in that region, this is hardly a surprise. Either way, they will definitely relish the opportunity to develop further as a squad once this tournament rolls around in December.
South America — Chimpanzini Bananini
Yes, you are reading that correctly: this team named after one of the Italian brainrot characters was the one to qualify out of South America. Apparently, they’re also known as TaiLung Mafia, or at least that’s what their manager says.
Whatever the case may be, it’s still amazing to see an open qualifier team make it through no matter the circumstances. OG qualifying for TI8 this way is probably the one exception, as teams so stacked with experienced pros generally don’t have to go through open qualifiers in the first place.
Eastern Europe — Runa Team
Without any big name teams like Team Spirit, PARIVISION, and BetBoom Team in the mix, the Eastern European qualifiers were wide open for just about anyone to take. But it was Runa Team that triumphed in the end, and I cannot for the life of me recognize a single name on this roster.
And that’s just the kind of excitement I like to see in this new competitive season. New blood is always appreciated in an old game like Dota 2, and Runa Team’s low name recall is exactly in line with that. They’re probably going to drown at DreamLeague, but everyone has to start somewhere.
Western Europe — Natus Vincere
Out of all the regions vying for qualification to DreamLeague Season 27, Western Europe definitely had the toughest competition. The new look AVULUS and MOUZ, the new trial OG squad, and the Virtus.pro lineup captained by Tal “Fly” Aizik all played here. This was therefore the first proving ground for quite a number of the WEU teams that underwent changes during the shuffle.
Even knowing all that, however, it was Na’Vi that won in the end. Na’Vi’s roster is exactly the same as what they fielded at TI14, which is way more than I expected from a team that didn’t put in a single podium finish in a tier 1 LAN in the previous competitive season. Continuity in that sense is rare in Dota 2, so it’s nice to see them staying the course and being rewarded for it with a qualifier slot.
