Deadlock isn't a death sentence for Dota 2 - it's "a gateway," according to caster and ESL product manager 'Avo+'

The Dota 2 ESL One Birmingham 2026 tournament reaches its grand conclusion today, and it's been an impressive showcase full of memorable stories and dramatic comebacks. The big news is the chaos created by Valve's decision to drop a gargantuan, game-changing Dota 2 patch on everyone's heads right before playoffs. Speaking to ESL product manager Álvaro 'Avo+' Sánchez Velasco ahead of the finals, I ask him about the impact of those changes, who his pick is to win, and whether he's worried about the looming shadow of Deadlock and its potential impact on the Dota 2 scene.

Patch 7.41's arrival isn't the first time Valve has deployed a massive Dota 2 update right before a major tournament, and I doubt it'll be the last. The developer seems to have a penchant for shaking up the MOBA and seeing which teams can adapt the fastest, creating plenty of excitement for fans but no end of stress for the players and production team.

“I don't think many people slept in our TV team or our in-game team," Velasco remarks, with crucial checks to ensure in-game tools work, broadcast graphics are correct, and that no game-breaking bugs will threaten the integrity of the competition. ”

That part is obviously no fun, but it's also nice to all come together under the idea of, 'Well, this happened.' You feel kind of excited about it, you work all night - it's kind of what you do in esports, right? And then you get to watch some really exciting new matches and see what the players figured out."

The production team often jokes "that we actually know more than the pros, because we've been working all night on this thing," but he notes they have a rule to not speak to any players the day after a patch to avoid any potential competitive advantages. As an audience member and a player, Velasco says he's very excited about patch 7.41, and "loves the design philosophy" of the update. He praises Valve's willingness to experiment and then change or remove entire features like Facets. "

It's not because they don't know how to balance, it's because they want to be able to test to see why it's broken. They have a lot of belief in player independence. "

To me, the removal of Facets wasn't like, 'We're taking it completely away.' Because they kept the Innates, the upgraded the Innates, they made them somewhat related to Facets to showcase what people are actually picking, and to me that's very cool." While he enjoyed the variety Facets brought to the game, he acknowledges, "

Sometimes having too much variety, especially in the pro scene, means the best things get abused." From a pure design philosophy standpoint, he calls 7.41 "

One of the best patches I've seen in a while," but laughs, "

When I get to play, I can tell you how fun it is." The ESL production team has been working hard "to make sure that viewers feel like they can keep up." Dota 2 is a complicated game, after all, and it's important to cater to newcomers and those who haven't studied the patch notes in detail, especially in the bigger tournaments.

While division-two tournaments and qualifiers assume a dedicated audience with a bit more knowledge, Velasco says that in big shows like ESL One, the casters and panel are asked "to be a bit more casual," with the host often acting as the everyman and asking the basic questions. Deadlock is Valve's new baby, and the MOBA overlap has naturally caused questions about whether its full-scale arrival will spell doom for Dota 2.

“I think the community at large, especially the most vocal parts, can be a bit scared sometimes," Velasco remarks. Both games can eat up a lot of people's limited time, after all. ”

From my personal perspective, I'm quite excited about it. It's a fun game, I play it." He notes that, while he doesn't typically play shooters, he enjoys watching the likes of Rainbow Six Siege and Counter-Strike 2. "

It's clear Deadlock has something special, the strategy elements are fantastic. To me, it's actually the opposite [of a threat to Dota 2]. It serves as a bridge for a lot of people that come from the shooter community." He points to the combination of tactical depth and mechanical simplicity that games like CS2 offer: "

There's something incredibly satisfying about getting the right shot or figuring out a very specific trick where you line up your crosshairs in a specific direction [for a knife or grenade]. "

That part is something I feel Deadlock can hit for these players in a way that Dota couldn't. When you show people Dota nowadays, if you haven't grown up with RTS games, like I did, it's kind of hard to play, the base controls are not intuitive." Velasco "grew up playing Warcraft 3 and Age of Empires," while I found a similar route in through C&C and later StarCraft, but those who don't have that background often find the Dota 2 control scheme confusing at first. "

Deadlock can serve as a gateway, in my opinion, to the best parts of Dota, which is the strategic depth, the complexity, this very interesting design philosophy that I believe is also part of the core values of Deadlock," Velasco asserts.

“I only see it as a positive. I think it's more people being introduced to our game, almost like a newcomer stream." He adds, "I've seen a lot of people come into our community purely from Deadlock that either stopped playing or are just interested in our game, and that's pretty wonderful to see.”

While the games' mechanical difference can make that transition harder, Velasco notes that "

There's a lower barrier to entry on watching esports." He admits, "I'll be honest, I don't like shooters because I'm bad. Deadlock, I bumble through because of my Dota knowledge."

While that keeps him from playing many shooters, "I still watch CS, and I think it's a fantastic esport - in my opinion one of the best viewing experiences you can ever get in esports." Velasco says a lot of Dota 2 viewers will also watch games like CS and Overwatch. "

When I consider that, I think, 'Well isn't Deadlock getting even closer to that, where you can just watch both esports, especially if you have orgs that come across both ecosystems?' They're both Valve games, it's kind of easy to do." Diving into Deadlock certainly relit my dormant Dota 2 flame, and on the esports side in particular, Velasco believes it's "purely a gateway" to people watching some amount of both games, even if they favor one.

Dota 2's player count has gone up and down over the years, but it's remained fairly stable. On the tournament side, Velasco is feeling optimistic.

"I feel like it's quite sustainable, at least in terms of the audience and viewership perspective, we haven't seen any backwards trends there. There's ups and downs like any esport, but this last TI was one of our most-watched since TI10, right? You're still seeing people really interested in and devoted to the game.