Vici Gaming prevailed over 1w Team in a Survival Stage that has seen multiple major upsets.
Chinese Dota 2 powerhouse 
Vici Gaming (VG) are the eighth and final team to qualify for the Dota 2 Esports World Cup (EWC) 2026 Playoffs after they upset European juggernauts 
1w Team in a 2-1 reverse sweep in the second round of the tournament's Survival Stage.
With their victory, VG have guaranteed themselves at least a Top 8 finish and US$70,000 in winnings. This result also marks the latest major upset of what has been a thrilling Survival Stage. Underdog squad 
Rune Eaters Esports notably scored back-to-back upsets in the Survival Stage, first defeating 
Virtus.pro in the opening round before securing their spot in the Playoffs with a 2-0 sweep over 
Aurora Gaming.
VG now join Group Stage top seeds 
Team Falcons, 
Nigma Galaxy, 
PARIVISION, and 
Team Yandex as well as fellow Survival Stage winners Rune Eaters, 
Team Spirit, and 
BetBoom Team in the Dota 2 EWC Playoffs.
After qualifying for The International (TI) 2026 last month, a deep run in the Dota 2 EWC should help galvanize VG in their attempt for the Aegis of Champions on home ground in August.
Meanwhile, 1w have been eliminated in 9th-12th place and with US$40,000 in consolation. It's a very disappointing result for who were among the biggest favourites to claim the Dota 2 EWC title and one of the directly-invited teams to TI 2026.
Vici Gaming's journey to the Dota 2 EWC Playoffs
In the Dota 2 EWC Group Stage, VG were seeded into Group C, where they finished as the third seed with a 6-4 record. That earned them a spot in the first round of the Survival Stage, where they needed to win two matches in order to qualify for the Playoffs. However, VG would only end up having to play just one series to advance.
VG were initially slated to face South American squad 
PlayTime in the first round of the Survival Stage on Tuesday (14 July). However, the match was indefinitely postponed after tournament organisers announced that an "integrity issue was identified and referred for review".
Hours after that announcement, the Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC), the integrity partner for EWC 2026, confirmed that it had launched an investigation into “suspected breaches of the ESIC Anti-Corruption Code and Player Code of Conduct” by PlayTime mid laner 
Gonzalo “DarkMago” Herrera and sporting director Juan “Vintage” David Angulo Nicho.
The two implicated PlayTime members were "prohibited from participating, directly or indirectly, in EWC 2026 and all ESIC Member events while the investigation remains ongoing." Now without their mid laner and the entire team involved in controversy, PlayTime forfeited their match against VG. As a result, the Chinese squad advanced directly to the second round of the Survival Stage to face 1w.
Vici Gaming pull off incredible reverse sweep over 1w Team
1w came out swinging to start their series against VG, stomping the Chinese squad to the tune of a lopsided 34-10 kill lead in just under 42 minutes of action. All three of 1w's core players notably finished the series opener without conceding a single death. 
Ivan “Pure” Moskalenko on Templar Assassin led the way with 16 kills and four assists, 
Bozhidar “bzm” Bogdanov on Earth Spirit added eight kills and 17 assists, while 
Neta “33” Shapira on Centaur Warrunner had seven kills and 15 assists.
VG were quick to shake off their game one loss, however, as they dominated 1w in turn to force the series to a deciding game three. 
Xuanang “Shiro” Guo on an unorthodox carry Lina pick was the star of the show in game two, as he racked up 22 kills and four assists on just one death to pace VG's 31-14 kill lead. Hongcheng “Xm” Guo on Earthshaker also showed out with seven kills and 17 assists on two deaths.
After two one-sided games, the series culminated in a 63-minute thriller set up by daring drafts by both sides. 1w pulled out a mid Mirana pick for bzm to run alongside Drow Ranger for Pure, forming a pair of high-damage ranged cores that could easily snowball out of control. 33 picked Axe to provide a much-needed frontline tank and initiator to make space for the two glass cannons in 1w's lineup.
Meanwhile, VG opted for a tanky tri-core to face their opponents' hard-hitting draft head-on, with Shiro on Tiny, Xm on Earth Spirit, and Zhang “Bach” Ruida on Largo. Zixing “XinQ” Zhao was given Zeus and tasked with going for a scaling build to give his team more damage while Yiping “y`” Zhang on Bane provided single-target lockdown abilities.
Both teams were on relatively even footing early on, but VG broke the game wide open in the mid game as they relentlessly hunted down 1w's squishy heroes before they could come online. But once 1w hit their item timings, even VG's tanky lineup were being threatened by their overwhelming damage output. With teamfights largely being decided by which team gets the better initiation, the game seemed headed for a deadlock as the clock ticked to the late game.
That's when XinQ's support-turned-core Zeus made its presence known, with the hero's ability to dish out an absurd amount of magic damage with a global range setting up multiple key pickoffs that allowed VG to break into 1w's base. While 1w put up a stubborn defense of their base, they could only hold on until VG finally destroyed their Ancient at the 63-minute mark.
Shiro once again topped the kill board in game three, pacing VG's 36-27 kill lead with 14 kills and nine assists on three deaths. Xm added nine kills and 22 assists on five deaths, while XinQ notched nine kills and 24 assists on four deaths.
XinQ notably recorded the highest amount of damage dealt in the closeout game at a whopping 85,600. Despite playing the position 4 support role, he also finished game three with the second highest net worth on his team at over 31,000 gold. His final inventory included two Divine Rapiers, Refresher Orb, Octarine Orb, plus Yasha and Kaya.
What is the Dota 2 Esports World Cup?
The Dota 2 tournament at the Esports World Cup 2026 will be the last Tier 1 tournament of the 2025-2026 competitive Dota 2 season, before it culminates in The International 2026 in August. With many of the teams competing in the EWC also qualified for this year's Dota 2 world championship tournament, it should serve as a good preview for the battle for the Aegis of Champions next month.
The Dota 2 EWC features 24 of the best Dota 2 teams in the world and will take place from 7 to 19 July in the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles in Paris, France. The teams will be fighting for EWC glory and the lion's share of US$750,000, out of the tournament's US$25 million prize pool.
The Dota 2 EWC is split into three stages; the Group Stage from 7 to 12 July, the Survival Stage from 14 to 15 July, and the Playoffs from 16 to 19 July.
The Group Stage will see the 24 teams split into four groups of six teams each to play in a single round-robin with best-of-two matches. The top team from each group will advance directly to the Playoffs, the second to fourth-placed teams will move to the Survival Stage, while the two bottom finishers will be among the first to be eliminated.
The Survival Stage will feature the 12 teams that finished third to fourth in their respective groups during the Group Stage, with four spots in the Playoffs up for grabs in a single-elimination bracket with best-of-three matches. The Survival Stage will open with the third and fourth seeds from different groups taking each other on, with the winners moving on to face the second place teams for the four Playoff spots.
Finally, the Playoffs will be a single-elimination bracket featuring the four teams that finished as the top seeds of their groups in the Group Stage, as well as the four teams that made it out of the Survival Stage. All matches in the Playoffs will be a best-of-three except for the grand finals, which will be a full best-of-five series.
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