Nigma Galaxy have now qualified to The International in back-to-back years, a first for the organisation.
Fan-favourite Dota 2 team 
Nigma Galaxy are the 16th team to qualify for The International (TI) 2026 after they claimed the fourth and final spot in the TI 2026 European qualifier with a 2-1 victory over 
Yellow Submarine on Monday (29 June).
This marks the first time in the organisation's history that Nigma Galaxy qualified for TI in back-to-back years. Nigma Galaxy were also the last team to secure a spot for TI 2025, where they exceeded all expectations and secured a commendable Top 6 finish.
With Nigma Galaxy securing the final qualification spot in the European qualifier, the field for TI 2026 is now complete. They will join fellow European qualifier winners 
Team Spirit, 
TEAM VISION (aka PARIVISION), and 
HULIGANI, North American qualifier winner 
GamerLegion, Southeast Asian qualifier winner 
OG, South American qualifier winner 
LGD Gaming, as well as Chinese qualifier winners 
Vici Gaming and Team Resilience.
The list of teams competing in this year's Dota 2 world championship tournament also include direct invites 
Aurora Gaming, 
BetBoom Team, 
Team Falcons,
Team Liquid, 
1w Team, 
Xtreme Gaming, and 
Team Yandex.
Nigma Galaxy's tumultuous season so far
Despite their Top 6 finish in TI 2025, Nigma Galaxy have struggled mightily all throughout the 2025-2026 competitive season.
In the four Tier 1 tournaments that the team have competed in so far, Nigma Galaxy finished outside the Top 8 in every single one. Their best results came in Tier 2 events, and while they couldn't secure a win they still managed two second place finishes in DreamLeague Division 2 Season 3 and PREMIER SERIES and two fourth place finishes in FISSURE Universe: Episode 7 and 1win Essence I.
Nigma Galaxy's poor results also prompted multiple roster overhauls over the course of the season. Shortly after TI 2025, 
Maroun “GH” Merhej took a break from competitive play, with 
Tobias “Tobi” Buchner being trialed as his replacement. In November, the team also parted ways with 
Daniel Chan “Ghost” Kok Hong despite his pivotal role in their TI 2025 campaign, with 
Aybek “TA2000” Tokayev coming in as his replacement.
In early December, Nigma Galaxy parted ways with Tobi to make way for the return of GH to the active roster. The team then closed out 2025 by parting ways with TA2000, with 
Denys “Rincyq” Bohushev joining the team to fill the carry spot at the start of 2026.
As Nigma Galaxy continued struggling in tournaments, more roster changes followed. At the start of March, the team announced the departure of 
Syed Sumail “SumaiL” Hassan, who had been Nigma Galaxy's best player and stuck with them for three years despite their struggles. To fill the void left by SumaiL's departure, Nigma Galaxy signed 
Cedric “Davai Lama” Deckmyn as their new offlaner and moved Tony “No!ob” Assaf to the mid lane.
But with no apparent improvement to their performances despite all the roster changes, and with the climax of the season approaching, Nigma Galaxy seemingly threw a Hail Mary. The team parted ways with rincyq and No!ob then welcomed back SumaiL and signed a new mid laner in Artem “Lorenof” Melnick, who had excelled as a stand-in with Aurora Gaming earlier in the season.
And so, Nigma Galaxy looked to qualify for TI 2026 with a roster that included SumaiL, Lorenof, Davai Lama, Omar “OmaR” Moughrabi, and GH, with living legend 
Kuro “KuroKy” Salehi Takhasomi still leading the team as coach.
Nigma Galaxy's journey through the TI 2026 European qualifier
With four spots in TI 2026 up for grabs in the European qualifier, Nigma Galaxy had as good a chance as any other team to make it to the world championship tournament. However, they faced stiff competition from Eastern European powerhouses like TEAM VISION and Team Spirit–who were largely expected to claim the first two spots–as well as other competitors like 
Natus Vincere (NAVI), 
Virtus.pro, 
MOUZ, and other teams coming from the open qualifier.
Nigma Galaxy started the qualifier strong by sweeping their first two matches of the upper bracket against 
Rune Eaters and NAVI. That set them up for a match versus Spirit in the third round of the upper bracket for the first spot in TI 2026. While Spirit emerged victorious, Nigma Galaxy gave a good account of themselves by forcing the series to three games.
Fortunately for Nigma Galaxy, they still had a second chance to qualify for TI 2026 as they dropped down to the fourth round of the lower bracket.
Facing them were Yellow Submarine, a squad of up-and-coming Eastern European players who have proven to be a dangerous opponent. Yellow Submarine upset MOUZ in their opening match of the qualifier before losing to Virtus.pro in three games to get dropped to the lower bracket. Yellow Submarine then defeated MODUS and
Power Rangers to earn the right to challenge Nigma Galaxy for the final spot in TI 2026.
Nigma Galaxy defeat Yellow Submarine to become the final team to qualify for TI 2026
The final match of the TI 2026 European qualifier opened with Nigma Galaxy blindsiding Yellow Submarine in the draft. Yellow Submarine allowed Lone Druid–by far the most banned hero of the entire qualifier–to slip through the first round of bans under the assumption that SumaiL doesn't play it. However, Nigma Galaxy were quick to pick up the Lone Druid for their carry player.
That Lone Druid pick ended up being the most pivotal hero of the series opener. While Yellow Submarine dominated the early game, Nigma Galaxy were able to turn things around then take the lead themselves behind SumaiL's Lone Druid. While it took a 57-minute grinder, Nigma Galaxy comfortably won game one up 41-30 in kills. SumaiL led the way with 17 kills and 12 assists on two deaths while Lorenof on Viper added 14 kills and assists apiece on three deaths.
Yellow Submarine were quick to strike back in game two, as they weathered early aggression from the side of Nigma Galaxy and executed a strong mid game timing push behind Maxim “Shigetsu” Popadinec's Alchemist to take the win after 39 minutes. Shigetsu paced his team's 28-22 kill lead with a clean 11 kills and 13 assists while 
Alexander “Rain” Nekrasov on Storm Spirit added eight kills and 14 assists on four deaths.
Game three was a fitting end to the TI 2026 qualifiers, as Nigma Galaxy outlasted Yellow Submarine in a 64-minute thriller to punch their tickets to this year's world championship tournament.
Both teams entered the series decider with vastly different game plans. Nigma Galaxy looked to end things in the mid game with a high-tempo lineup featuring SumaiL on a carry Magnus, Lorenof on his signature mid Sniper, and Davai on Timbersaw. Meanwhile, Yellow Submarine opted for a late game lineup anchored by Shigetsu's Spectre while Rain on Pangolier and Bohdan “Batyuk” Batiuk on Tidehunter were assigned as the team's playmakers.
Nigma Galaxy made good use of a strong start in the laning stage by building up a gold lead that they would never relinquish. However, Shigetsu was given space to free farm and loomed as a massive threat for Nigma Galaxy's plans as the game went late. That threat manifested as Shigetsu was able to pick off Lorenof in multiple teamfights, but Nigma Galaxy were able to maintain their lead as Davai emerged as an unkillable frontline tank that prevented Yellow Submarine from getting the massive teamfight win they needed to take over.
In the end, the massive competitive experience advantage Nigma Galaxy had over their rookie opponents proved to be the difference maker. They survived poorly-timed usage of buybacks on two of their cores and outplayed Yellow Submarine in the decisive clash of the game to punch their tickets to TI 2026.
Davai pushed Nigma Galaxy past the finish line with 14 kills and 14 assists on four deaths while Lorenof added 10 kills and 19 assists on five deaths.
What is The International 2026?
TI 2026 will be this year's iteration of Dota 2's annual world championship tournament, taking place in August in Shanghai, China. As with previous iterations of the tournament, TI 2026 will feature a total of 16 teams that earn their spots in the tournament by receiving direct invites or earning slots through regional qualifiers.
TI 2026's main event will be hosted in the Oriental Sports Center in Shanghai. Valve first announced that Shanghai will host TI 2026 during last year's world championship tournament, where Team Falcons claimed the Aegis of Champions after defeating China's Xtreme Gaming in the five-game grand finals.
This will mark the second time that Shanghai will host TI after TI 2019, where Western Europe's OG became the first-ever two-time TI champions after defeating Team Liquid in four games to claim the grand prize of US$15.6 million, out of the US$34.3 million prize pool.
TI 2026 will be split into two phases: the ‘Road to The International’ and ‘The International’ main event. The Road to The International will be a Swiss-style Group Stage from 13 to 16 August, where the 16 teams will be cut down to the final eight that will play in the game's biggest stage from 20 to 23 August in Shanghai's Oriental Sports Center.
While Valve have yet to reveal the details on TI 2026's prize pool, the tournament is expected to follow last year's prize pool format with a US$1.6 million base prize pool. The prize pool will then be boosted through sales of the TI 2026 Compendium.
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