Mira on patch 7.41 drop at ESL One Birmingham: “Disaster. Like, total disaster”

It’s not every day that you get to talk to a two-time International champion, but that’s exactly what our editor-in-chief Sophie McCarthy did at ESL One Birmingham today by having a chat with Myroslav “Mira” Kolpakov of Aurora Gaming.

A consummate professional in the world of competitive Dota 2, he remains as one of the most successful players to ever touch this game. And yet, he remains as human as ever, as you’ll see in our interview with him at the event.

How are you doing today?

Myroslav “Mira” Kolpakov: Hello, I’ve been doing good.

Sophie: How have you been enjoying England so far?

Mira: It’s nice. I’ve been to London, which is a beautiful city.

Sophie: Good! Yeah, London, but maybe not so much Birmingham. [laughs]

Mira: I wasn’t here too much, like I’ve only been at the hotel and the arena, so I haven’t seen much.

Sophie: I mean, that’s understandable; you’ve been busy, I guess. So, the first thing I wanted to ask about was: Aurora Gaming, you’ve been on a bit of a meteoric rise in 2026. You won at FISSURE Universe Episode 8, and you took second place at DreamLeague Season 28.

What would you attribute to this success?

Mira: We had some changes to our roster, and we got two new players. I think we got a bit more calm and more chill about our failures, and we just try to learn from them now instead of tilting and being totally disappointed after every loss. It did kind of hurt before and it’s hard to move forward in the past, but now we’re very good with dealing with it. When we lose, we just move on to the next game.

Sophie: I did want to ask about the two new players (Mikoto and Ws) because they both seem really impactful since they’ve joined the team.

How has it been for you so far learning to lane with Ws?

Mira: I mean, it’s been easy. He’s like a super chill guy, and even if I make some mistakes or ruin his lane as always, he’s fine with it. He’s just like, “Okay, I’ll just go farm now. You can go.” And then I leave the lane. But yeah, he’s a very nice guy, and a hard worker. He understands that Dota is a game, that you just have to live with the mistakes you make, and just keep playing. Yeah, that’s a very strong part of his character.

Sophie: Well, that’s really good to hear. You guys have already had to play with two stand-ins this year with lorenof and then with V-Tune.

What’s the biggest challenge in consistently having to play with stand-ins?

Mira: It’s actually fun because you have to play with a new style and new heroes at every event [with a stand-in]. But right now, I’m just glad we have our full roster, because it’s much easier to progress as a team that way. It was fun playing with stand-ins, but I hope it won’t happen again this season. Twice is enough for one season, I feel like.

Sophie: This is one of the few events this year where no one is playing with a stand-in.

Does that affect how you prepared for this event knowing that everyone has their full roster?

Mira: We’ve worked a lot since the start of January to build a good structure within this team. And now, it’s paying off. If the new patch didn’t come out in the middle of the tournament, I think we would have had a good chance at winning it. Now, it’s kind of just random. But yeah, we put in a lot of work and spent a lot of time with our coach, and I just hope we find a way to keep winning in this patch.

Sophie: I do have to ask you about the patch as well. Of course, it did drop in the middle of ESL One Birmingham, and I think Dota is the only esport that puts patches straight into the official competitive mode as soon as they drop.

What were your conversations like that Wednesday morning after it dropped?

Mira: Disaster. Like, total disaster.

Sophie: …Okay! [laughs]

Mira: We basically just lost every strategy that we prepared, and Nightfall was just laying on the floor just like this: [puts his hands on his head and starts hyperventilating]. Like, he was breathing heavily.

Sophie: Oh, bless him.

Mira: I don’t think it was nice of Valve to do this. They could have waited like three days for the biggest event of the first half of the year to finish. But whatever, if they want to make fun of us, it’s fine. [laughs]

What was the most surprising change for you in the new patch?

👀 #Dota2 pic.twitter.com/52zrkDJoxK

— Wykrhm Reddy (@wykrhm) March 25, 2026

Mira: Facets removal.

Sophie: Yep, right, that’s what I thought.

Mira: So it was like that for the past two years, with Valve constantly changing and balancing them. It was always a lot to learn about facets, and then they’re just gone in one day. All that work, just gone.

Sophie: Do you think it was a good change? Because I know some people were talking about how tough it was to balance and that they didn’t really achieve what Valve set out for. What do you think?

Mira: I think it kills some heroes. Heroes like Tiny just got killed, because their power was just based upon his facets. Maybe we should remove talents as well now, and go back to legacy Dota. It will be fine, but we need time to get used to it.