Team Liquid defeat Aurora Gaming to advance to The International 2026 Playoffs

Team Liquid are off to a good start in their campaign to claim the organisation's third Aegis of Champions.

Western European Dota 2 powerhouse Team Liquid became the second team to qualify directly to the Playoffs of The International (TI) 2026 after they pulled off a 2-1 reverse sweep over Eastern Europe's Aurora Gaming in the fifth round of the tournament's Group Stage on Saturday (15 August).

With their victory, Liquid have earned an extended break before the battle for this year's Aegis of Champions kicks off in earnest on 20 August. They are joined by Group Stage top seed TEAM VISION (aka PARIVISION) and surprise Playoff lock Nigma Galaxy.

Meanwhile, Aurora will have a second chance at making the Playoffs through the Elimination Stage, where they need to win one more do-or-die match to advance.

Following a disappointing 9th-13th place finish at TI 2025, Liquid entered the 2025-2026 competitive season by overhauling their roster following the retirement of longtime captain Aydin “iNsania” Sarkohi last October. The team signed Marcus “Ace” Hoelgaard and Erik “tOfu” Engel from Gaimin Gladiators with the hopes of winning the organisation its third Aegis of Champions to add to their titles from TI 2017 and TI 2024.

Liquid were a solid contender all season long, winning BLAST Slam VII in February and finishing in the Top 4 in seven other tournaments to earn a direct invite to TI 2026. Liquid notably entered TI 2026 with momentum on their side after they won 1win Essence II a week before the tournament kicked off.

Liquid and Aurora's journey through the TI 2026 Group Stage

Both Liquid and Aurora entered TI 2026 as top contenders and kicked off their Group Stage campaigns with victories, with Liquid cruising through China's Vici Gaming and Aurora sweeping North America's GamerLegion in Round 1. Liquid then continued rolling in Round 2 by taking down Team Yandex–one of the biggest favourites of the tournament–while Aurora fell to regional rivals Team Spirit.

Round 3 of the Group Stage then saw Liquid also lose to Spirit while Aurora bounced back with their own victory over Yandex. With solid 2-1 records at that point, Liquid and Aurora entered the final day of the Group Stage still in the running for a direct berth to the Playoffs.

In Round 4, Aurora took down another tournament favourite in BoomBoys (aka BetBoom Team) to advance to the 3-1 Playoff Decider matches in Round 5. Liquid positioned themselves as Aurora's opponent in the next round by pulling off a 2-1 reverse sweep over Iron Wing (aka 1w Team).

Liquid reverse sweep Aurora to secure Playoff berth at TI 2026

Liquid opened the series with a Huskar pick for Nisha, who was tasked with dominating the laning stage alongside Ace's Underlord to make space for micke's Tiny to take over late. Boxi on Keeper of the Light and tOfu on Hoodwink rounded out the lineup by providing magic damage burst and crowd control from long range.

Meanwhile, Aurora countered Liquid's Huskar with a last-pick offlane Necrophos for Ws to round out an aggressive tri-core that also featured Lifestealer for Nightfall and Ember Spirit for Mikoto. Mira on Mirana and Kaori on Rubick then manned the backlines.

Aurora's last-pick Necrophos worked wonders, as it absolutely shut down Nisha's Huskar and derailed Liquid's entire game plan. With their opponents' main win condition not having any impact, Aurora cruised to an easy win in game one with a lopsided 32-7 kill lead in 27 minutes.

Ws led the way for Aurora in game one with a perfect 10-kill, 11-assist performance while Nightfall added a clean six kills and eight assists of his own. Mikoto also pitched in with nine kills and 13 assists on two deaths.

Learning from their mistakes in game one, Liquid entered game two with a more orthodox draft that suited their high-tempo playstyle. MiCKe had Luna, Nisha was on Invoker, Ace got Centaur Warrunner, Boxi was given Hoodwink, while tOfu was put on Treant Protector. Meanwhile, Aurora went with a burst damage-heavy lineup with Nightfall on Tiny, Mikoto on Lina, Ws on Dawnbreaker, Mira on Lion, and Kaori on Jakiro.

Both sides were on relatively even footing during the early game, with Liquid scoring more kills while Aurora took down more towers. However, Liquid started to take over the map as Nisha's Invoker came online. Liquid's star mid laner scored kill after kill to lead a furious Liquid snowball that eventually forced the series to a deciding third game after 35 minutes of action. Nisha fueled Liquid's 29-17 kill lead in game two with 15 kills and eight assists on two deaths.

With a spot in the Playoffs on the line in game three, both teams went with drafts with plenty of teamfight abilities. Liquid had Windranger for miCKe, Pangolier for Nisha, Dawnbreaker for Ace, Hoodwink for Boxi, and Treant Protector for tOfu. On the other side of the map, Aurora picked Tiny for Nightfall, Axe for Ws, Dark Willow for Mira, as well as Lina and Jakiro again for Mikoto and Kaori.

Liquid held a narrow advantage in the early game, as Nisha dominated the mid lane and played a large part in dealing five deaths to Mikoto in the first 16 minutes. However, Aurora's other cores were still formidable and were angling to win a teamfight that could swing momentum to their favour. Aurora looked like they would do just that with a smoke gank into Liquid's triangle area at the 22-minute mark, but Ace was able to reinforce his team with Solar Guardian just in time to score an Ultra Kill in a massive five-for-two trade.

Aurora ran out of gas after that disastrous smoke gank, as Liquid simply bulldozed through them in the ensuing teamfights and eventually secured the 2-1 reverse sweep in just under 42 minutes of action.

Ace led the way for Liquid in the decider with 13 kills and nine assists on three deaths out of the team's 32-18 kill lead. Nisha also pitched in with nine kills and 14 assists on two deaths.

With their victory, Liquid have earned an extended period of rest before the battle for this year's Aegis of Champions resumes on 20 August alongside TEAM VISION and Nigma Galaxy.

Meanwhile, Aurora still have a second chance to qualify for the Playoffs through the Elimination Stage. There, they will have a rematch with regional rivals BoomBoys.

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.

TI 2026's prize pool follows that of previous editions, with a US$1.6 million base prize pool that will then be boosted through sales of the TI 2026 Compendium.