ESL One Birmingham 2026 — The 8 best soft support players

We’re at the home stretch now before the start of ESL One Birmingham on March 22nd, but we’ve got two more positions to check out in terms of who the best players are ahead of the tournament.

Today, we’re looking at the best position 4 or soft supports in the field, starting with the one of the most accomplished players of all time.

#1 — Martin “Saksa” Sazdov

No one looked at Team Yandex twice back when they first formed in the wake of The International 2025 (TI14), but that all changed as soon as Saksa “stood in” for them at DreamLeague Division 2 just last October. Those two words are in quotation marks because he’s been with Yandex since that very day — and if he’s not already a permanent member of the team, he probably should be by this point.

Because as soon as he arrived, they became a top tier squad almost overnight. I also don’t believe for a second that Alimzhan “Watson” Islambekov and Arman “Malady” Orazbayev would have improved the same way they have this season without Saksa, which tells you the rest of what you need to know about his impact.

#2 — Vitalie “Save-” Melnic

Save- is a support player that really lives up to his chosen name. This guy just picks up heroes like Shadow Demon and Ringmaster and literally saves his teammates from sticky situations all the time, and it shows in their great results as of late. His impact is very tangible and visible in any given game, and the rest of BetBoom Team can always count on him to get them out of a bind. We’re hoping to see his Hoodwink come out at ESL One Birmingham — it’s had a near 70 percent win rate in 16 games over the last three months.

#3 — Andreas “Cr1t-” Nielsen

When it comes to highly dependable and stable position 4 players, very few others can hold a candle to Cr1t- in that department. He doesn’t really jump out at anyone watching as a “big plays” kind of player, but that suits him just fine since he’s more concerned with being the backbone of Team Falcons’ playstyle. Much like Save-, he’s also a Hoodwink specialist, so watch out for that at Birmingham.

#4 — Matthew “Ari” Walker

Home field advantage is going to come in handy for Ari, the lone British player participating at ESL One Birmingham. The home crowd is going to love his presence there, having grown tremendously from his high, raw potential as a prospect in OG, and now to the truly impactful support player that he is today on Tundra Esports. While Tundra’s superstars like Bozhidar “bzm” Bogdanov and Ivan “Pure” Moskalenko generally take the spotlight, some of their best performances this season would not have been possible without Ari’s contributions. Also, he has filled Saksa’s shoes in this team with aplomb — and when you’re living up to such high expectations, you know you’re doing something right.

#5 — Aleksandr “rue” Filin

Formerly the newest member of Team Spirit’s current roster, rue is a quiet but highly effective player in his own right. He just does his job game in and game out, and doesn’t really make too much of a spectacle of it. He’s often in the right place at the right time, making him a solid and impactful piece in Spirit’s lineup.

#6 — Daniyal “yamich” Lazebnyy

We consider yamich to easily be the best player on MOUZ right now. He’s a rather unique soft support player in the sense that he almost exclusively plays melee heroes: Tusk, Pudge, Nyx Assassin, and Tiny are always in his back pocket. His playstyle kind of forces him to just run around almost aimlessly in the laning stage, but he makes game-changing plays on the regular past the 15 minute mark. His impact is therefore felt later on in the game rather than at the start — but it is certainly there when MOUZ need it the most.

#7 — Edgar “9Class” Naltakian

9Class is the epitome of experimentation at the soft support position. He is notorious all over the Dota world for playing unorthodox picks like Slark, Monkey King, and Techies — which serves as both a weapon and a hindrance to him in equal measure. When his antics are working, PARIVISION look unstoppable, but when they’re not, they just end up overcooking the draft to accommodate him. He was without a doubt one of the best support players in the previous competitive season, but he’s fallen off quite a bit along with the rest of his team this year.

#8 — Elvis “Scofield” Peña

When Scofield initially announced his departure from HEROIC just before the holidays last year, we thought that his former team was done for. They’ve since bounced back, but that just goes to show how vital he was to their success then. Make no mistake about it: he is still the best support player coming out of South America, and paiN Gaming would miss his presence dearly if he ever decides to take his talents elsewhere.