Team Falcons successfully fend off a promising LGD Gaming on the opening day of TI 2026.
The first round of The International (TI) 2026 Group Stage kicked off today (13 August) with four matches running simultaneously, but most had their eyes glued on the spicy clash between defending champions 
Team Falcons and fan-favourites 
LGD Gaming.
The best-of-three series proved every bit as explosive as expected. LGD Gaming took the lead convincingly, but Falcons fired back to complete a 2-1 reverse sweep. The turnaround was hardly surprising for the defending champions, who entered TI 2026 as one of the tournament’s top contenders.
The win earns the defending champions a crucial Group Stage point, putting them at the top of the standings alongside three other first-round winners. It marks a positive start for Team Falcons, who will be eyeing their second consecutive world champion title and a third Aegis of Champions for 
Oliver “Skiter” Lepko and 
Jing “Sneyking” Wu.
Meanwhile, LGD Gaming face an uncomfortable start to their campaign, as they can no longer afford another loss if they want to secure a direct berth in the Playoffs. That said, their performance against Falcons remains commendable, especially considering the setback they faced just days before TI, when the South American squad lost their mid laner and had to bring in 
Topias Miikka “Topson” Taavitsainen as a last-minute stand-in.
The series showed that LGD Gaming are more than capable of shaking the defending champions, suggesting that a fairytale run may not be so far-fetched after all. The team now have some time to develop their strategies and build synergy before the Group Stage concludes in three days.
How Team Falcons defeated LGD Gaming in the TI 2026 Group Stage
Team Falcons opened the series with a confident, fast-paced draft, picking Huskar for 
Stanislav “Malr1ne” Potorak first, followed by Crystal Maiden for sneyking Shadow Demon for 
Andreas “Cr1t-” Nielsen, Mars for 
Ammar “ATF” Assaf and Alchemist for skiter.
LGD Gaming, meanwhile, opted for a more balanced draft, with an early-game trio of Windranger for Topson, Hoodwink for 
Matheus Santos Jungles “KJ” Diniz and Tusk for Thiago “Thiolicor” Cordeiro. They also picked Phantom Lancer for 
Yuma “Yuma” Langlet as a late-game contingency, alongside Snapfire for 
Adrian “Wisper” Cespedes Dobles to provide strong teamfight control.
The first 10 minutes saw several skirmishes across the lanes, but as the game progressed, LGD began punishing Falcons whenever they overextended, bringing in reinforcements to secure double kills for Topson and Yuma on separate occasions.
As the game progressed, Topson, KJ and Thiolicor frequently moved together, successfully taking down Huskar and Alchemist while trading for one or two support kills. This effectively shut down Falcons’ mid-game momentum, allowing Phantom Lancer to build up his arsenal while Wisper accumulated more utility items.
The game remained neck-and-neck until the 30-minute mark, when the kill score was tied at 30-30. Despite Falcons holding a slight net-worth advantage, LGD grouped up at the right time to make a game-winning move.
That moment came at the 32-minute mark, when LGD rushed into Falcons’ top-side Tier 2 area, knowing that Malr1ne had teleported to another lane. The positional advantage gave LGD the upper hand in the ensuing teamfight, with Yuma running rampant while a heavily farmed Snapfire rained damage down on the enemy team, scattering their formation and allowing Yuma to sweep through the opposition with ease.
The teamfight victory allowed LGD to claim the Aegis and Banner before mounting a strong high-ground push.
At 39 minutes, Falcons attempted a desperate Smoke gank. While their initiation managed to push Topson’s Windranger away from the fight, Yuma’s Phantom Lancer was unstoppable by this point, swiftly taking down three members of the opposing side. The game ended at the 40-minute mark with a team wipe, giving LGD their first game point. Yuma’s Phantom Lancer topped the KDA charts with a 15/2/8 scoreline.
In the next game, Falcons fashioned a more balanced draft, with a promising first-pick Necrophos for ATF, followed by signature Mirana for Sneyking, Tiny for skiter, Shadow Demon for Cr1t and Pangolier for Malr1ne.
LGD Gaming’s picks, meanwhile, strayed from the meta in favour of individual comfort. Their supports grabbed strong BKB-piercing stunners, with KJ on Clockwerk and Thiolicor on Spirit Breaker. Yuma opted for Lina, Wisper took Dark Seer, and Topson brought back his iconic mid Gyrocopter.
Naturally, the odds seemed to favour Falcons’ more conventional line-up, and their advantage showed early in the game. Falcons picked up more kills across the lanes and built a 3K net-worth lead by the 10-minute mark. There were moments when LGD made disruptive plays, but Falcons were always ready to respond. In one instance, Topson’s Gyrocopter and the two supports contested Falcons’ Ancient stacks, taking down ATF in the process, but Falcons quickly retaliated, swiftly eliminating all three.
Falcons continued to find valuable pick-offs as the game progressed into the mid-game, repeatedly punishing Topson with continuous ganks. This significantly hampered his progress, with his net worth hovering around the support players for most of the game.
There were, however, glimpses of hope for LGD, as both Yuma and Wisper accumulated decent farm and occasionally topped the net-worth chart. Even so, LGD lacked the confidence to take a full-blown fight head-on, as Topson’s Gyrocopter mid pick ultimately felt ineffective. There was no frontline presence to hold fights and enable an already-farmed Lina and Dark Seer, while Falcons had simply grown too strong to maneuver around by this point.
The game turned into a slow death for LGD, as Falcons easily sieged their base, claimed kills almost uncontested and eventually forced LGD to concede at the 37-minute mark.
The final map saw Falcons grab Lina for Malr1ne, followed by Clockwerk for Cr1t, Sven for skiter, Crystal Maiden for Sneyking and Pangolier for ATF, giving them a well-rounded line-up capable of scaling from the early to late game.
Meanwhile, LGD Gaming drafted a more aggressive line-up, with Mirana for KJ, Dragon Knight for Topson, Windranger for Yuma and Shadow Demon for Thiolicor. A last-pick Batrider for Wisper was a classic choice that brought confidence towards the South American side.
The early game was a fairly even exchange. Skiter’s Sven struggled to find farm in the early stages as LGD picked up several kills, but Malr1ne’s Lina led the net-worth chart and helped keep Falcons’ prospects level. ATF’s Pangolier was also a nuisance across the map, using his crowd control effectively to give Falcons greater grip of the game.
By the 30-minute mark, Falcons had an 81% win probability, unsurprising given their near-10K gold lead, with all three cores sitting at the top of the net-worth chart. At this point, with skiter fully recoverd, Falcons only needed to find the right initiation to wipe out several heroes in quick succession.
At 32 minutes, LGD found a window of opportunity, landing a crucial Shackle that led to kills on skiter’s Sven and ATF’s Pangolier. It offered LGD a glimmer of hope, despite their midlane barracks already having fallen. But Falcons showcased great discipline, allowing them to secure a team wipe at the 36-minute mark. The game ultimately fell in Falcons' hands at the 44th minute.
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.
The list of directly-invited teams to TI 2026 include
Aurora Gaming, 
BoomBoys (aka BetBoom Team), 
Team Falcons, 
Team Liquid, 
Iron Wing (aka 1w Team), 
Xtreme Gaming, and 
Team Yandex. Meanwhile, the teams that earned their spots through the regional qualifiers include European qualifier winners 
Team Spirit, 
TEAM VISION (aka PARIVISION), 
HULIGANI, and 
Nigma Galaxy, 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.
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.
For Dota 2 match results and updates on the go, don't forget to check out our Telegram channel.
