Opinion: Dota 2 has never been more competitive at the top

The winds are changing once again in the professional Dota 2 landscape. Just over the weekend, we witnessed the breaking of one of the craziest streaks in the history of this game: the nearly 500 days of dominance that Tundra Esports had over BLAST Slam. Starting with their win at BLAST Slam 2, they put the entire tournament series in a chokehold for another four editions — winning every single one and making the Slam their playground.

Until HEROIC had a say in it last Sunday, that is.

The era of parity, part two

For those that like unpredictability in their esports viewing experience, watching Dota 2 has never been better. While there are still favorites on paper like, as I said, Tundra Esports and the ever-present Team Falcons, it’s now harder than ever to pick and choose who is going to win a tier 1 event at any given time.

To put things into perspective, here’s a list of winners at every premier tournament thus far in the 2025-2026 season:

• BLAST Slam 4 Singapore — Tundra Esports
• FISSURE Playground 2 — Team Falcons
• PGL Wallachia Season 6 — MOUZ
• BLAST Slam 5 Chengdu — Tundra Esports
• DreamLeague Season 27 — Team Yandex

BLAST Slam 6 Malta will crown a champion this upcoming weekend, but neither Tundra, nor Spirit, nor MOUZ will be that champion. All three have already been eliminated, mostly by clubs that supposedly had no business doing so.

MOUZ got blindsided by GamerLegion in the last chance playoff, while Tundra got their heads kicked in by a resurgent HEROIC in their play-in match. As for Spirit, they looked almost completely disinterested in even trying at BLAST Slam 6 if I’m being honest, allowing Yandex to take full advantage and get past them in just two games.

At any rate, it’s been great watching these tournaments with $1 million total at stake only to see the usual suspects get clapped one way or another. Dota is best when lower-skilled teams get a chance to show off their potential. Seeing Tundra and Falcons just win everything in sight does make for cool historical narratives, but I know I don’t want the game to turn into Counter-Strike where there are obvious Astralis or Team Vitality-type eras.

Still a ways to go

With all that being said, however, I will admit that we are not quite at the point yet where the winner of any given tier 1 tournament is a total coinflip. For every upset that involves MOUZ or Falcons losing to a squad that they shouldn’t be losing to, we have a REKONIX that goes 1-12 at BLAST Slam 6. There is still a pecking order despite the huge increase in parity that we’ve seen over the past season and a half, and I’m not going to pretend that the Dota scene as a whole has been completely upended.

BEST MOMENTS of BLAST Slam VI Week 1 🔥 | Presented by @gamingmalta

Watch the FULL HIGHLIGHTS on the BLAST Slam Dota 2 YouTube channel 📺 pic.twitter.com/JbkxlYcD5T

— BLAST Slam (@BLASTDota) February 9, 2026

Rather, it’s that there are no longer any crystal clear favorites where it would be more shocking to see such teams not actually make it to the grand finals wherever they go. There have been several occasions already this season where a Tundra Esports or a Team Falcons fumbles the bag, and a team far less expected to succeed takes the trophy at the end of it all.

Dota’s popularity as a game may not be at 2014 to 2016 levels anymore, but this level of good volatility is fantastic to see. And while we may never see The International get up to the eye-watering prize pools of the past ever again, the fact that there’s a top level tournament happening almost every week means that there’s that many more chances for “weaker” teams to get a share of the money.

Actually, that last bit is part of the feedback loop that creates the parity in the first place. The best squads can only play so much Dota before they get tired or burn out, which forces them to skip a few every now and then. This in turn opens up extra slots for teams that didn’t quite make it through regional qualifiers, allowing them to gain experience and sharpen their skills against the toughest competition available.

I’d say everyone benefits as a result. The only time it wouldn’t is if teams like MOUZ or Spirit just fall off a cliff and disband. But even then, there would just be another set of rosters eager to replace them as the totem pole shifts and rotates. As long as this doesn’t cause a mass exodus of fan favorite players from professional play entirely, I’m all for where Dota is headed right now.