Team Yandex secured the DreamLeague Season 27 title after a convincing 3-1 victory over Team Spirit in the grand final, taking home the final tournament of the 2025 season. After going against all odds, Team Yandex delivered a breakout performance to secure the organization’s first title. 

Team Yandex’s DreamLeague Run Was No Fluke

In any underdog run, there will always be skeptics ready to label the run as a fluke. However, it’s hard to argue against Yandex’s campaign at DreamLeague Season 27. The team went off to a modest start, finishing 5th in the group stage, but it was the playoffs where they really took off. 

Team Yandex started with a shaky victory against Virtus.Pro, then were immediately tasked to face Tundra Esports – the team that defeated them at the BLAST Slam V grand final just weeks ago. After pulling off an incredible comeback, Yandex slayed their demons and advanced to the upper bracket final. 

They carried that momentum into a showdown against two-time TI winners Team Spirit in the upper bracket final, where they persevered and booked their seat in the grand final. The two Eastern European teams met again with the title on the line.

Though Yandex dropped the opening map, they adapted and responded with three straight games, doing so in very convincing fashion to remove any doubt that their tournament run was a fluke. 

An Underdog Story 

Team Yandex had to work harder than most teams at the event. While most top teams were directly invited to DreamLeague Season 27, Team Yandex had to battle it through DreamLeague Division 2, where they were forced to play additional matches to qualify for the event. 

The squad has turned a new leaf in the past months, managing to finish second at BLAST Slam V and third at FISSURE Playground 2. But still, almost nobody considered them in the DreamLeague Season 27 power rankings, letalone expected them to win an entire Tier 1 event with all the best teams in the world present. 

But instead, Yandex exceeded expectations and proved that their previous results were no outliers. This DreamLeague victory means a lot to the squad, as it represents the first Tier 1 title for every team member except Martin “Saksa” Sazdov.

Saksa – The Difference Maker

While every player on Team Yandex made a collective effort to get to where the team is, it really is impossible to ignore the impact of Saksa. At the start of the season, Yandex fielded Alexey “prblms” Parshukov as its support player. The initial iteration failed to even win a Tier 2 online event, finishing third at RES Unchained 2.

However, that trajectory immediately shifted after Saksa joined. The team was able to secure a third-place finish at their very first international LAN tournament together at FISSURE Playground 3, which featured the world’s best Dota 2 teams. 

In less than two months, Yandex transformed from a sinking ship to Tier 1 champions. It’s clear that Saksa has had a massive influence on the team, not just in gameplay, but perhaps also in experience and overall team mentality.