Against all odds, underdog squad Rune Eaters have qualified for the Dota 2 Esports World Cup Playoffs.
Kazakhstan-based Dota 2 underdogs 
Rune Eaters Esports continued their Cinderella Run in the Dota 2 Esports World Cup (EWC) 2026 with a massive 2-0 upset over 
Aurora Gaming in the second round of the Survival Stage on Wednesday (15 July).
With their victory, Rune Eaters have exceeded all expectations to secure a spot in the Dota 2 EWC Playoffs and guaranteed themselves at least a Top 8 finish as well as US$70,000 in winnings. Rune Eaters now join Group Stage top seeds 
Team Falcons, 
Nigma Galaxy, 
PARIVISION, and 
Team Yandex in the Playoffs.
Rune Eaters' unexpected run to the Dota 2 EWC Playoffs is made all the more impressive by the fact that this is the organisation's very first Tier 1 tournament appearance.
Rune Eaters, formerly known as V-Gaming, had been competing in Dota 2 since 2022 but had very little success, eventually forcing the organisation to go inactive in April 2023. Rune Eaters then returned to competition at the start of this year, with its breakthrough starting with their acquisition of the Pipsqueak+4 stack that secured qualification for the Dota 2 EWC through the Western Europe qualifier. The roster features regional up-and-coming talents
Mikhail “DarkLord” Linov, 
Philipp “Copy” Bühler, 
Abdimalik “Malik`” Sailau, 
Masrcel “Ekki” Hołowienko, and Alim “aik” Bespaev.
Despite their promising roster, virtually no one expected Rune Eaters to come anywhere close to sniffing a Playoff spot against the heavily stacked competition of the Dota 2 EWC.
Rune Eaters' Cinderella Run to the Dota 2 EWC Playoffs
Rune Eaters began their Dota 2 EWC campaign in Group A of the Group Stage, where they were matched up against reigning The International (TI) champions Team Falcons, 
BetBoom Team, 
Xtreme Gaming, 
GamerLegion, and Poor Rangers.
While Rune Eaters were swept in their match against Falcons, they showed glimpses of their potential by forcing unexpected 1-1 draws against powerhouse teams in BetBoom and Xtreme. With another 1-1 draw against GamerLegion and a much-needed 2-0 victory over Poor Rangers, Rune Eaters finished the Group Stage as the third seed of Group A with a respectable 5-5 record.
Rune Eaters then advanced to the Survival Stage, where they needed to win two best-of-three matches to secure a spot in the Playoffs. Their first opponent was Group D fourth seed 
Virtus.pro (VP), a team of veterans that were heavily favoured to win the matchup.
Rune Eaters pulled off their first huge upset of the Survival Stage against VP, overcoming a rough loss in game one of the series to pull off a 2-1 reverse sweep. Game two notably saw Rune Eaters outlast VP in a 64-minute thriller, after which they bulldozed through their seemingly gassed opponents in the 38-minute decider to advance to the next round.
With their victory over VP, Rune Eaters earned a matchup against another formidable opponent in Aurora. While their victory over VP was still within the realm of possibility, many expected the Rune Eaters magic to run out against Aurora. Not only were Aurora the second seed of Group B, they are a team that earned a direct invite to TI 2026 and one of the strongest contenders all season long.
But against all odds, Rune Eaters looked like they were the Tier 1 team instead of being the underdogs, soundly sweeping Aurora to carry their Cinderalla Run through to the Dota 2 EWC Playoffs.
Rune Eaters pull off massive upset over Aurora
Aurora opened the series with a last pick Naga Siren for 
Egor “Nightfall” Grigorenko, with the team angling to take the win late. 
Rafli Fathur “Mikoto” Rahman and 
Chung “Ws`” Wei Shen were given Viper and Centaur Warrunner, respectively, to bridge their lineup through the mid game.
Rune Eaters opted for a mobile and hard-hitting trio of strength heroes for their cores, with Darklord on Lifestealer, Copy on Ember Spirit, and Malik on Lycan. Meanwhile, Ekki on Rubick and Aik on Lich provided crucial crowd-control abilties from the backlines.
Aurora took the lead after the laning stage and looked poised to start grinding down Rune Eaters come the mid game. However, Rune Eaters scored a massive four-for-one trade in the 20-minute mark that gave them the momentum just as the most pivotal phase of the game started.
Rune Eaters then proceeded to relentlessly hunt down Aurora as the latter resorted to spreading out through the map and split-pushing to attempt a comeback. Eventually, Rune Eaters were able to break through Aurora's defenses after they took down the Naga Siren without buyback in a massive clash around the 50-minute mark, forcing the ‘GG’ call a minute later.
Copy led the way for Rune Eaters in game one with 14 kills and 13 assists on four deaths. Darklord and Malik notched eight kills apiece and combined for 39 assists against four deaths between the two of them.
With their backs against the wall in game two, Aurora looked to make a comeback behind two glass cannon heroes in Shadow Fiend and Lina for Nightfall and Mikoto, respectively. Ws was given Axe to serve as the team's frontliner and initiator while Oleh “Kaori” Medvedok on Oracle was tasked with saving his squishy cores.
Rune Eaters responded to Aurora's draft by picking a lineup with tons of burst damage and powerful initiation abilities, with Darklord on Tiny, Copy on Earth Spirit, Malik on Snapfire, Ekki on Batrider, and Aik on Lich.
Game two followed a similar script to game one, with Aurora once again finding themselves in an advantageous position after the laning stage. However, Rune Eaters started taking over once their heroes came online in the mid game. With Aurora's lineup building more for late game scaling, their heroes were repeatedly bursted down by Rune Eaters' aggressive initiations. To Aurora's dismay, they never reached the late game as Rune Eaters' relentless aggression allowed them to secure the 2-0 series sweep after 39 minutes of action.
Aik's Lich topped the kill board for Rune Eaters in game two, pacing his team's 37-19 kill lead with 10 kills and 13 assists on seven deaths. Copy and Malik both had eight kills and two deaths while combining for 26 assists, while Darklord recorded five kills and 17 assists on two deaths.
Following their loss to Rune Eaters, Aurora bowed out of the Dota 2 EWC in 9th-12th place and with US$40,000 in consolation. It's a very disappointing result for a team many saw as one of the biggest contenders for the title. Aurora will be looking to regain their winning form as they prepare to compete for TI 2026 next month.
What's next for Rune Eaters in the Dota 2 EWC?
Rune Eaters will be looking to continue their Cinderella Run in the Dota 2 EWC in the Playoffs, where they will have to go through a grueling single-elimination bracket if they hope to claim the grand prize of US$750,000.
Rune Eaters' next opponent will be PARIVISION, arguably the biggest favourites to claim the Dota 2 EWC title. It remains to be seen if they can once again pull off another massive upset against their most powerful opponent yet.
What is the Dota 2 Esports World Cup?
The Dota 2 tournament at the Esports World Cup 2026 will be the last Tier 1 tournament of the 2025-2026 competitive Dota 2 season, before it culminates in The International 2026 in August. With many of the teams competing in the EWC also qualified for this year's Dota 2 world championship tournament, it should serve as a good preview for the battle for the Aegis of Champions next month.
The Dota 2 EWC features 24 of the best Dota 2 teams in the world and will take place from 7 to 19 July in the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles in Paris, France. The teams will be fighting for EWC glory and the lion's share of US$750,000, out of the tournament's US$25 million prize pool.
The Dota 2 EWC is split into three stages; the Group Stage from 7 to 12 July, the Survival Stage from 14 to 15 July, and the Playoffs from 16 to 19 July.
The Group Stage will see the 24 teams split into four groups of six teams each to play in a single round-robin with best-of-two matches. The top team from each group will advance directly to the Playoffs, the second to fourth-placed teams will move to the Survival Stage, while the two bottom finishers will be among the first to be eliminated.
The Survival Stage will feature the 12 teams that finished third to fourth in their respective groups during the Group Stage, with four spots in the Playoffs up for grabs in a single-elimination bracket with best-of-three matches. The Survival Stage will open with the third and fourth seeds from different groups taking each other on, with the winners moving on to face the second place teams for the four Playoff spots.
Finally, the Playoffs will be a single-elimination bracket featuring the four teams that finished as the top seeds of their groups in the Group Stage, as well as the four teams that made it out of the Survival Stage. All matches in the Playoffs will be a best-of-three except for the grand finals, which will be a full best-of-five series.
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