{"id":14974,"date":"2026-04-06T11:04:47","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T11:04:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thunderpick.gl\/blog\/?p=14974"},"modified":"2026-06-23T09:29:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T09:29:08","slug":"why-does-dota-have-mid-tournament-patches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thunderpick.gl\/blog\/why-does-dota-have-mid-tournament-patches","title":{"rendered":"Michael Hassall: Mid-tournament Patches &#8211; Valve&#8217;s cruel prank or keeping competitive Dota 2 healthy?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"bsf_rt_marker\"><\/div>\n<p>If there\u2019s one thing that separates pro Dota 2 pros from fans, it\u2019s the enjoyment of mid-tournament patches. For fans, it\u2019s an instant injection of excitement into the event. For players, it\u2019s sleepless nights, strategies ruined and potential losses looming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once a rare case, something that Valve vowed to stop doing, the patch drop in the middle of an event has now become an almost comically common event, seemingly mainly focused at ESL FACEIT Group\u2019s DreamLeague and ESL One events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But are Mid-tournament patches really that bad? How common can they actually be (far more than you\u2019d expect)? And how badly do they really <a href=\"https:\/\/thunderpick.gl\/blog\/esl-one-birmingham-retrospective\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">affect players and teams<\/a>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How common are mid-tournament patches in Dota 2?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Before we dive into how these patches affect teams, let&#8217;s look at the recent patches we\u2019d consider mid-tournament, as well as a few edge cases, where a patch was so close to the event as to practically affect it. In descending order (most recent first) here\u2019s the recent tournaments that happened on or just after a major patch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/thunderpick.gl\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/HEnArtiWsAE-s9h-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"ESL One Birmingham suffered dota mid-tournament patches\" class=\"wp-image-14980\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thunderpick.gl\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/HEnArtiWsAE-s9h-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/thunderpick.gl\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/HEnArtiWsAE-s9h-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/thunderpick.gl\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/HEnArtiWsAE-s9h-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/thunderpick.gl\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/HEnArtiWsAE-s9h-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/thunderpick.gl\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/HEnArtiWsAE-s9h.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">ft. ESL<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>7.41, March 24, 2026, <strong>ESL One Birmingham 2026 <\/strong><em>(Two days before end of group stage)<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>7.40, December 15, 2025, <strong>DreamLeague Season 27<\/strong><em> (Ahead of the final day)<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>7.36, May 22, 2024, <strong>DreamLeague Season 23<\/strong> <em>(Following the group stage)<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>7.35, December 14, 2023, <strong>ESL One Kuala Lumpur<\/strong> <em>(On the day off between group stage and playoffs)\u00a0<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>7.33 &amp; 7.33b, April 20 and April 26, 2023, <strong>ESL One Berlin Major<\/strong> <em>(Six days before and on the first day of the group stage)<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>7.32, August 23, 2022,<strong> ESL One Malaysia<\/strong> <em>(On the first day of group stage)<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><br>While 7.33 did occur before the event, the update, known as the New Frontiers update, was so big that it definitely affected the tournament. And had a pretty significant \u2018b\u2019 patch on the first day of the event as well, so it\u2019s pretty easy to include it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What\u2019s most interesting about these patches is that they all came <em>after <\/em>a direct commitment from Valve to avoid any more mid-tournament patches. That announcement came after the 7.14 update which was <a href=\"https:\/\/gametyrant.com\/news\/dota-2-patches-wont-be-released-during-major-tournaments\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">released during the EPICENTER XL<\/a> event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Following this,&nbsp; <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/DOTA2\/status\/990030205967216645\">Valve announced via Twitter tha<\/a>t \u201cfor upcoming majors where the Thursday patch would land during the tournament, we will instead be releasing the patch at the end of the event.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Valve\u2019s latest update for Dota 2, which was released in the middle of the Epicenter XL tournament caused significant chaos for players who had to adapt to the gameplay changes in a short amount of time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After this, we went around four years before Valve started dropping patches during events again. What started during the Covid-era, in 2021, where many tournaments were not directly tied to the pro circuit, and were online only, has continued, and been a constant spectre over more recent events.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/thunderpick.gl\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/HEm9nhaWQAAgxzL-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"ESL One Birmingham suffered dota mid-tournament patches\" class=\"wp-image-14977\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thunderpick.gl\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/HEm9nhaWQAAgxzL-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/thunderpick.gl\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/HEm9nhaWQAAgxzL-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/thunderpick.gl\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/HEm9nhaWQAAgxzL-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/thunderpick.gl\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/HEm9nhaWQAAgxzL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/thunderpick.gl\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/HEm9nhaWQAAgxzL.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">ft. ESL<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>While the reasoning is officially unknown (Valve has not made a statement on patches or updates during tournaments since 2018, and arguably since the dissolution of the Valve-backed Dota Pro Circuit in 2024, has no reason to), the simple reason for the patches dropping during events is that there&#8217;s simply no point across most years where there\u2019s not some <a href=\"https:\/\/thunderpick.gl\/blog\/how-top-dota-2-teams-win-with-largo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">important competitive Dota<\/a> event going on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2026 alone, there is a major event every single month, with four months occupied by the Esports World Cup, The International, and their respective qualifier. To put it bluntly, if Valve wants to release updates at all, it can\u2019t not drop them during events.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There\u2019s also the fact that Valve seemingly attempts to limit its event-affecting patch drops to one tournament organizer, ESL. While this is amusing, and could be seen as some kind of grudge, it\u2019s likely that the fact most DreamLeague and ESL One events run for much longer than the average event could have something to do with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But enough on the why. How exactly do these patches affect tournaments and players?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How do these mid-tournament patches actually affect teams?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s not sugarcoat it: These patches ruin a lot of tournament plans for teams and players. From drafts and comfort heroes nerfed into the ground, to the hours needed to stay up and pour over patch notes, the mid season patch can drop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/thunderpick.gl\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Azure_Ray_win_ESL_One_Kuala_Lumpur_2023-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Azure Ray win ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023 - a Tournament with big Dota mid tournament patches\" class=\"wp-image-14979\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thunderpick.gl\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Azure_Ray_win_ESL_One_Kuala_Lumpur_2023-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/thunderpick.gl\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Azure_Ray_win_ESL_One_Kuala_Lumpur_2023-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/thunderpick.gl\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Azure_Ray_win_ESL_One_Kuala_Lumpur_2023-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/thunderpick.gl\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Azure_Ray_win_ESL_One_Kuala_Lumpur_2023.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">ft. ESL<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Speaking to players at ESL One Birmingham 2026, there was a general sense that they had a plan and it was thrown out the window. <em><a href=\"https:\/\/thunderpick.io\/blog\/virtus-pro-overview\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"157\" title=\"Virtus.pro\">Virtus.pro<\/a><\/em>\u2019s <em>Jon\u00e1\u0161 \u201c<strong>SabeRLight-<\/strong>\u201d Volek<\/em> and <em>Tal \u201c<strong>Fly<\/strong>\u201d Aizik<\/em> both believed their team could have advanced out of the group stage if the patch had dropped later. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jaxon.gg\/virtus-pro-fly-esl-one-birmingham\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201cI wish they would have waited just one day\u201d <\/a>lamented <em>Fly. <a href=\"https:\/\/thunderpick.io\/blog\/og-overview\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"39\" title=\"OG Esports\">OG<\/a><\/em>\u2019s <em>John \u201c<strong>Natsumi-<\/strong>\u201d Vargas<\/em> also said the patch affected their performance \u201cWe weren\u2019t in good shape, we couldn\u2019t adapt.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Among the more successful teams that tournament, including Team Yandex, and eventually winners <a href=\"https:\/\/thunderpick.io\/blog\/tundra-esports-overview\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"4\" title=\"Tundra Esports\">Tundra Esports<\/a>, however, the feeling was more positive. Yandex\u2019s <em>Martin \u201c<strong>Saksa<\/strong>\u201d Sazdov<\/em> said he pretty much liked the chaos:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s interesting for me. I like a bit of chaos. So I think having a patch like this, for me, it\u2019s fine. It just means that teams are willing to adapt.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Similarly, <em>Neta \u201c<strong>33<\/strong>\u201d Shapira<\/em> had a similar attitude. He didn\u2019t mind a mid-tournament patch: \u201cThere\u2019s not that much you can do because there\u2019s tournaments all the time nowadays.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cA little bit of randomness in some of them, it\u2019s okay. It makes it more interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So it seems that among finalists in these events, the patch isn\u2019t really that big of a deal. But let&#8217;s look at things practically: Do these patches actually create the \u2018chaos\u2019 fans love or do they just reinforce the status quo. Let&#8217;s go through the list of tournaments again. This time looking at some of the predicted and eventual winners of those events. We\u2019ll use contemporary tournament previews and commentary as a basis:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>ESL One Birmingham 2026: <\/strong>Despite a patch, the finals featured both <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gosugamers.net\/dota2\/news\/78151-esl-one-birmingham-2026-teams-and-key-storylines-to-watch\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pre-tournament favorites Team Yandex<\/a> and Tundra Esports, with the latter taking home the win<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>DreamLeague Season 27: <\/strong>Dropping just before the finals, eventual winners Team Yandex didn\u2019t seem phased by the result. Yandex <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gosugamers.net\/dota2\/news\/77697-dota-2-dreamleague-season-27-begins-key-teams-and-storylines-to-watch-out-for\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">were rated highly coming into the tournament<\/a> having upset TI-winners <a href=\"https:\/\/thunderpick.io\/blog\/team-falcons-overview\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"49\" title=\"Team Falcons\">Falcons<\/a> at BLAST Slam V.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>DreamLeague Season 23: <\/strong>Gaimin Gladiators and Team Falcons were the <a href=\"https:\/\/blast.tv\/dota\/news\/dreamleague-s23-playoffs-day3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">clear favorites of any tournament<\/a> during this time, and both met in the finals<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>ESL One Kuala Lumpur: <\/strong>Perhaps the only tournament in the list where a patch affected the outcome. Chinese team Azure Ray, underdogs and far from top-tier defeated Gaimin in the finals.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>ESL One Berlin Major: <\/strong>This event happened during Gaimin\u2019s undefeated streak and they didn\u2019t miss a beat. They were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pinnacle.com\/en\/esports-hub\/betting-articles\/dota-2\/berlin-major-power-rankings\/5qc2sl4se5mfya4z\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ranked number one<\/a> prior to the event.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>ESL One Malaysia: <\/strong>Of OG\u2019s pair of incredible performances in 2022, Malaysia was arguably the less impressive.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>So of six mid-tournament patches, we\u2019d argue just one, at <strong>ESL One Kuala Lumpur<\/strong> actually affected the outcome in a major way. Instead of prompting chaos, mid tournament patches seem to solidify just which team is the best in the world at that time. And for the teams that aren\u2019t as impressive struggle when faced with the need for quick strategization.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There\u2019s probably some deeper reason for this. Maybe the confidence of being on a top team means obstacles like a mid-event patch aren\u2019t going to <a href=\"https:\/\/thunderpick.io\/blog\/faze-clan-overview\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"194\" title=\"Faze clan\">faze<\/a> you. On the other hand, teams in the middle of the pack are disproportionately affected. A team like <em><a href=\"https:\/\/thunderpick.io\/blog\/aurora-build-abilities-and-matchups\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"215\" title=\"Aurora build\">Aurora<\/a> Gaming<\/em>, for instance, performed incredibly well at ESL One Birmingham 2026\u2026 until the patch.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But ultimately, whatever the reason, the fact is that mid-tournament patches, for as much chaos as they allegedly cause, often only reinforce a great team\u2019s greatness. In fact, it seemingly does punish teams that rely heavily on patch familiarity for their edge. Going forward, Valve can perhaps feel a little less guilty about these updates, because it seems to me that they\u2019re not really changing much in the tournaments.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If there\u2019s one thing that separates pro Dota 2 pros from fans, it\u2019s the enjoyment of mid-tournament patches. For fans, it\u2019s an instant injection of excitement into the event. For players, it\u2019s sleepless nights, strategies ruined and potential losses looming. Once a rare case, something that Valve vowed to stop doing, the patch drop in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":15440,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[55,104,117,52,100,53,91,101,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dota-2","category-dota-teams","category-esl","category-esports","category-guides","category-news","category-teams","category-tournaments","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thunderpick.gl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thunderpick.gl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thunderpick.gl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thunderpick.gl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thunderpick.gl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14974"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thunderpick.gl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14974\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14984,"href":"https:\/\/thunderpick.gl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14974\/revisions\/14984"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thunderpick.gl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thunderpick.gl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thunderpick.gl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thunderpick.gl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}