Team Yandex have had a tremendous start to ESL One Birmingham 2026, crushing almost all their opponents in the group, and locking in their spot for the playoffs before the ‘patch of doom,’ Dota 2 update 7.41, which dropped ahead of the final day of the stage.
At the core of this success is TI-winner and veteran support player Martin “Saksa” Sazdov. His high-level play has helped Yandex’s otherwise youthful roster maintain the momentum needed to succeed at Tier 1 events. Jaxon.gg spoke to Saksa ahead of their upper bracket faceoff with Tundra Esports. He shared with us how he’s reacted to a tumultuous shake up in the Dota 2 meta.
Image Credit: ESL
Jaxon.gg: This is the first time you’ve been back to ESL One Birmingham since 2019. Back then you were there with NIP. A lot of familiar names on that team actually. There was Ace, there was 33. What do you think the biggest difference in the event between then and now is?
Saksa: “It’s hard to say because I haven’t played on stage yet. I guess the main difference is like back then it was like, NIP was the oldest team in the scene and now I’m playing with younger guys. So from my point of view, it’s a bit fresher, I guess. I don’t know if that’s the right word, but yeah.
I think it’s still to be decided how it’s going to go on stage, usually the crowds here in Birmingham are good, so I’m looking forward to it.”
Let’s talk about Yandex. You moved from a trial, standing-almost position in Yandex to the main roster. How has that transition been, and how have you settled into Yandex?
Saksa: “The transition has been very good. I think joining a full CIS roster with English-speaking players you don’t always know how it’s going to go. But I think the team made it very easy for me. And we overall have a very good work ethic in the team which I really like. I think everybody’s working hard, everybody’s willing to listen, nobody’s coming from a place of high ego or anything and I think overall it’s like a real pleasure to play in this team.”
Kind of related to that, is there any rivalry between you and Tundra, your former team, or is that something you don’t even think about?
Saksa: “I think truthfully speaking there is a bit of a rivalry, probably they also want to beat me to some extent. Yeah, it’s always nice to beat your old team that you left, that you’ve been playing with before. Yeah, I would say the rivalry with them and some other teams too.”
“I felt like before the patch, some teams were a bit dead inside and they were maybe not trying their best. And after the patch, I feel like everybody really wants to win and they want to try new heroes and they are trying really hard to win and play more games.” – Saksa on patch 7.41
What kind of other teams do you kind of have a little bit of a rivalry with then? Ones that you like to see beaten?
Saksa: “I like to play against Falcons. PARIVISION, I also think, is a good team to play against. I guess those are the ones I want to beat.”
So, you’re a kind of older veteran now on a team of younger players. You’re a TI winner. Does that mean you end up in a mentor role or are you just still one of the boys?
Saksa: “A little bit of both I guess. I do try to embrace the mentor role and try to help guide them on the right path because I think there isn’t much difference than being a really high-skilled pub player and then being one of the best players in the esports scene because you just need the right attitude, the right work ethic and then that’s going to take you from being a really good pub player to being one of the best.
And I try to tell them to my team and bring these kinds of values and the right approach to the game. And it’s nice that they are willing to listen. I think it’s helping them improve as well.”
With the TI victory, does that automatically give you authority? Can you be like, oh, well, I won a TI! Or do they just still kind of not listen to you sometimes?
Saksa: “No, they do listen! They do listen. Even though I’m also older, they have other wins too. Before they haven’t won really many tournaments but they know they have what it takes, so they are just trying their best.”
Saksa sees himself of the mentor of a young – and successful – team. Image Credit: ESL FACEIT Group
Let’s talk about the biggest story from the tournament and, inevitably, the patch. A few questions about it. First of all, mid-tournament patches, do you like them or are they never good?
Saksa: “It’s interesting for me. I like a bit of chaos. So I think having a patch like this, for me, it’s fine. It just means that teams are willing to adapt.
Also, I felt like before the patch, some teams were a bit dead inside and they were maybe not trying their best. And after the patch, I feel like everybody really wants to win and they want to try new heroes and they are trying really hard to win and play more games. I get that vibe from new patches.
So I think overall it’s a good addition and I think it just creates a bit of fear.
I think you’re one of the first people I’ve heard say that. Obviously you guys were locked pretty much already for the playoffs. Did it still affect your play on the final day of groups, the new patch, or did you kind of just stick to your guns? Or go with what works?
Saksa: “It affected us a bit because you need to figure out what heroes are kinda in right now. So you need to change your bans a bit more, need to just work the draft around.
Overall the heroes that you end up playing weren’t that much different before the patch. I think people are still not willing to experiment that much for the new patch. They still want to stick to what you know, so I think we were also doing a bit of that. But if the patch goes longer and longer, the days are longer, then people will really experiment more. So I think we will see new stuff.”
Is there any facet that’s gone that you’re going to miss? Or are happy that in general that facets are gone?
Saksa: “I think facets were good to have. I think it just added another aspect to the game. Facets that I’m going to miss, can’t really think of anything in mind right now. Maybe Bull Rush on Spirit Breaker?”
Is there anything from the patch, we’ve all had about two or three days on it now, is there anything that instantly jumps out to you as a broken, something you really want to use? Going forward either in competitive or just fun in pubs or something like that?
Saksa: “Well the two most broken heroes I guess right now are Doom and Bat. Bat rather got the firefly facet without having to burn his HP so that was like a really massive change which makes the hero a bit broken. The Doom W for some reason got 7 HP regen when he pressed it like in lane so that’s super broken.
I think Alchemist is another one that we saw Tundra play and we were also talking about it on our team that this new Aghs is kind of broken. Just the fact that you get six plus gold. When they give the Aghs you just get six gold on Alc for every creep, plus damage also from the 15 talent, it’s like you just even if you get two Aghs you get almost 200 damage or something. And yeah, it’s pretty imbalanced.”
Saksa thinks Alchemist could be broken in patch 7.41. Image Credit: Valve
Finally, it’s been a really hectic season so far, constant tournaments. April is going to be no different, maybe a little bit of break in May if you’ve already qualified to EWC. Do you think the schedule is too punishing at the moment and would you like to see it kind of relaxed or do you like having this constant flow of events to go to, travel, etc.
Saksa: “I don’t really like it that much. I think a more balanced approach would be better.
I think from now going from tournament to tournament to tournament it’s not as exciting, especially also from a viewer perspective. You saw the teams at one tournament and the same teams at the next tournament in just a few days.
I think the three Major system they had in Dota was the best. Like you have some tournaments then you go to the Major, you play, and then you go to the next Major. That made it so you have three Majors and TI in the season and then I feel like that was a much better approach.
[This year] It was kind of weird because we played DreamLeague in December and we had a month and a half off till the next tournament in February. So we just had a month and a half off and now we have five tournaments in a row. So it’s definitely a bit unbalanced. It would be nice to have a bit of a change to smooth things out.”
Thank you so much. And good luck with the rest of the tournament.
Stick with Jaxon.gg for more Dota 2 news and guides and continuing coverage of ESL One Birmingham 2026.
Featured Image Credit: PGL
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