Thought BLAST Slam 4 was all we were going to get to end the Dota 2 year? PGL Wallachia Season 6 begins tomorrow, November 15th, less than a week removed from BLAST’s highly successful first foray into hosting an arena-based Dota 2 event.
And thanks to BLAST Slam 4, we now have a much better idea of how this season’s teams stack up against each other. It’s time once again for the PGL Wallachia power rankings!
#1 — Tundra Esports
Without Team Falcons in the mix at Bucharest, this is an absolute no-brainer pick. Tundra Esports showed an extreme level of class at BLAST Slam 4, winning the whole thing despite Falcons breezing past HEROIC in the semifinal match.
Image credit: Shaun Lee, BLAST
To stay that composed while being down two games to one against the defending International champions was impressive to say the least, especially for Matthew “Ari” Walker who showed a level of poise that I did not expect from someone without much tier 1 experience. They’re on fire to start the season, and I wouldn’t be shocked to see them win back-to-back tournaments here.
#2 — PARIVISION
Although PARIVISION completely fumbled FISSURE Playground 2, I still think they’re a top tier squad just on talent alone. There’s a reason they finished third at The International 2025 (TI14), and placed so highly at other events last season. Having continuity like this is also quite rare in Dota 2, which I really appreciate.
Image credit: Valve
That said, Tundra have the recent results to back up their placement on this list — and even though I’m putting PARIVISION in second place, I don’t actually think it’s particularly close right now between these two teams. Tundra are in a distant first place, with PARIVISION being behind them because of the results they had last year and the ridiculous amount of talent they possess.
#3 — MOUZ
If PGL Wallachia Season 6 took place last month instead of tomorrow, this would be an absurd place to put this team. But MOUZ have proven to be a pleasant surprise and a serious breath of fresh air in the competitive scene at large, with this almost ragtag roster coming out of the gates fast. In fact, Quinn “Quinn” Callahan told me in my interview with him at BLAST Slam 4 that he didn’t expect MOUZ to win the tournament, but named them as the one team that he enjoyed watching the most in Singapore.
Image credit: Shaun Lee, BLAST
Yeik “MidOne” Nai Zheng seems to be experiencing a career renaissance for himself, kind of like how Volodymyr “No[o]ne” Minenko did last season. This alone has MOUZ starting off very strong, and I’m inclined to believe they’ll continue to develop as a unit from here. I expect them to finish within the top 6 at PGL Wallachia Season 6, but they did show a tendency to mess things up at BLAST Slam 4, so they could also end up below that cutoff.
#4 — HEROIC
I’m starting to think this might be a real breakout year for South America. HEROIC have been clicking as a squad since the start of the season, and they even made it to the top 4 at BLAST Slam 4 before being stopped in their tracks by Falcons. The vibes within this team seem to be really good right now, and they’re running with a great deal of momentum.
Image credit: PGL
They do need to fix their drafts a little bit, though. That offlane Viper pick against Falcons at BLAST Slam 4 was kind of suspect. I know this is the team that’s known for having a large hero pool collectively, but like what Cedrick “Davai” Deckmyn said to me at the BLAST Slam media day, sometimes you just need to keep things simple.
#5 — Team Spirit
Team Spirit were one of my favorites at BLAST Slam 4, and I expected them to pretty much brush MOUZ aside in the quarterfinals. What happened instead was that MOUZ put up a much better fight than I had anticipated, and Spirit instead had to leave Singapore with a rather disappointing result on their shoulders.
Image credit: Shaun Lee, BLAST
This squad in particular is familiar with this kind of inconsistency, but personally I don’t think it’s going to be this way for two LANs in a row. They’re too good to not take the single elimination loss from last week on the chin. It does behoove me to knock them down a few pegs from where they would be otherwise on this list, but I wouldn’t sleep on them just because they got eliminated early in Singapore.
#6 — BetBoom Team
Though BetBoom Team didn’t put in a particularly impressive performance in the group stage of BLAST Slam 4, they made up for it pretty much immediately by getting themselves to the FISSURE Playground 2 grand finals. They only managed to take one map against Falcons there, but personally I think that’s enough to put them fourth on my list.
Image credit: Sebastian Pandelache, PGL
They’re quickly learning how to make the most out of Ilya “Kiritych” Ulyanov’s arrival, and Vitalie “Save-” Melnic is still just as sharp as always. If they can stave off their tendency to throw games away, which should be easier with the departure of the feast-or-famine carry that is Ivan “Pure” Moskalenko, I can see them making a deep run in Bucharest.
#7 — Xtreme Gaming
On paper, this Xtreme Gaming roster is incredibly scary. They basically kept most of their core from TI14, but added Cheng “NothingToSay” Jin Xiang and Xu “fy” Linsen. For my money, NothingToSay is the best player in China right now, so he’s certainly set to elevate this team’s play moving forward.
Image credit: PGL
The same should go for fy, although he hasn’t played professionally in over a year. There’s going to be some questions about how ready he is to play, but I can at least say that his years of experience should serve him well in this regard. Another problem is how long of a break these guys have had since TI14, so rust may also come into play.
Thus, I’m a little hesitant to place them any higher than sixth place on my power rankings, despite how good this lineup should be just from a talent standpoint.
#8 — Team Liquid
Team Liquid improved significantly at FISSURE Playground 2 just two weeks ago, securing fourth place after starting the year in the dumps with their two new acquisitions in Marcus “Ace” Christensen and Erik “tOfu” Engel. And this came just in time, because I was starting to get legitimately worried that they might just spiral into a pit of mediocrity before the calendar year was even over.
Image credit: PGL
I still don’t think they’re good enough to win any tier 1 LANs right now, but the rest of the field below this spot is just so bad that Liquid are automatically in the top 7. If they can take the lessons they learned at FISSURE Playground 2 and turn them into tangible improvements, they can certainly break into the podium at PGL Wallachia Season 6. But that’s still a big if in my eyes.
The rest
No, sorry — Nigma Galaxy are not good enough right now for them to get the usual top 8 nod from me. They lost Daniel “Ghost” Chan over the post-TI14 roster shuffle, and I don’t really see Aybek “TA2000” being a worthy replacement just yet.
As for the rest of the field, it’s a tossup as always. I’m hoping the new all-Filipino OG roster does better than expected, because Southeast Asia really needs a win right now. I can see Na’Vi and Team Tidebound potentially upsetting a few teams here and there, but consistency will be hurdles for them at Bucharest.
Patrick has been playing Dota since the dawn of time, having started with the original custom game for WarCraft III. He primarily plays safe lane and solo mid, preferring to leave the glorious task of playing support to others.
