Wu “Sneyking” Jingjun is part of an exclusive club in Dota 2: that of the two-time International champion. He is the most veteran presence in Team Falcons, and arguably the backbone of a team that relies on serious star power to get them through any and all challenges.
Our editor-in-chief Sophie McCarthy had the privilege of sitting down with him at ESL One Birmingham 2026, to talk about Falcons’ team chemistry, the new metagame brought about by Patch 7.41, and what he thinks about the fact that facets have been removed from the game.
How are you doing today?
Sneyking: I’m doing quite fine. Had a good lunch, played a few pubs today, and I’m feeling pretty good!
Sophie: That’s good! Did you have English food for lunch?
Sneyking: It was at the hotel, so I’d assume yes. I presume you could call it English.
Sophie: Well, it’s good to hear that you’re still here. The very first thing I wanted to ask you about, was that I saw that you guys just set a world record for having played the most games together as a roster.
How important is that stability, do you think, to your success?
Sneyking: I think having the right chemistry is like the main reason why we’ve had so much success, because I think being able to do so well together for so long is the reason why we’re still together. It’s really hard to find that chemistry, and once you find it, you kind of want to run into the ground, so to speak — and just keep it going as long as possible.
Copyright: Pawel Bastrzyk, ESL FACEIT Group/Esports World Cup Foundation
Sophie: How did you go about making that chemistry? Was it natural? Do you do teambuilding stuff?
Sneyking: I think it was mostly natural. I think it’s really hard to force something to happen, and you just have to do trial and error and find the right chemistry, the right mix of players [in order] to succeed. I think there are people who play for so long, and some teams, some players will have some success and some will not. It really just comes down to chance, and whether you find the right set of players with the skill set and the chemistry.
Sophie: I mean, I think this has obviously worked really well for you guys. Right, so I just wanted to talk a little bit about this tournament.
The one thing I really wanted to ask about is this offlane Void Spirit.
Sophie: Can you talk me through this pick? Because I don’t think I’ve seen it out of the mid lane maybe ever.
Sneyking: Yeah, I think it’s just mostly because this hero has gotten buffed. It’s quite strong in this meta, and it’s one of ATF’s most played heroes. So, he just felt like he could play it and that it was a good fit for him. I think it mostly comes down to the player’s individual preference and the meta.
Copyright: Adela Sznajder, ESL FACEIT Group/Esports World Cup Foundation
Sophie: Is this something that you were talking about before? Because I know that ATF does pull out these unexpected picks.
Sneyking: I think it wasn’t part of the original planning, but I think after the first game, we decided that it was probably a good idea to first pick the Void Spirit. We tried doing that because no one really knows for sure in a new patch, so it was just a bit of a gamble to see if we had the correct understanding of the patch. And us losing, obviously part of it was the draft — but the bigger part is that we just didn’t play very well. So, it’s hard to tell exactly what is optimal and what is not. We’re just gonna have to keep trying.
Sophie: And you guys have got a little bit of time now to start getting used to the patch before the next tournament, right?
Sneyking: Yeah, we’ll have about two weeks of downtime before we play again. The next time we play will be actually the DreamLeague [Season 29] qualifiers.
Sophie: Okay, cool. I guess for Team Falcons, you guys are quite known for having really large hero pools.
Do you find it more difficult when you’re getting used to a new patch to maintain such a big pool?
Sneyking: I think usually in a new patch, you just try to see what works well and you just keep trying. And once you find those heroes, you just play them. So, I don’t think it necessarily is a problem for us. It’s just we just have to find the correct set of heroes and playstyle that we want to kind of keep doing.
Sophie: I know you said you were playing some pubs this morning. What heroes were you trying out?
Sneyking: I was just trying some good old Enchantress, because I think it’s a better hero this patch. What else did I play… I also played Batrider, who is also a pretty meta hero in this tournament. Nothing out of the ordinary.
What would you say is the most surprising change to the game from this latest patch?
Sneyking: I think the most surprising change would definitely be facets being removed. I think not very many players would have expected that to be the first thing talked about in the patch, because they made such a big effort to implement facets. We thought it was here to stay, but it turns out it was just like a couple-year fad, and now it’s gone.
Image credit: Shaun Lee / BLAST
Sophie: What did you think about that, personally?
Sneyking: I was a bit bummed about it. I thought it was a nice addition, [because] it gave a new way to play the game. On certain heroes, you could kind of change your playstyle, or how you wanted to play the hero depending on the matchups. And now it’s just completely removed from the game. It’s a lot more restrictive.
Sophie: Some of the heroes, they seem to have had the facets kind of put into the innates now, so they haven’t lost them entirely.
Sneyking: Yes. So now, it’s just part of [the hero’s] skillset rather than an option you can choose depending on the game.