With Team Resilience eliminated, no Chinese teams will be playing in front of their home crowd in The International 2026 Playoffs.
Eastern European Dota 2 powerhouse 
Team Spirit became the sixth team to qualify for The International (TI) 2026 Playoffs after they defeated Chinese squad 
Team Resilience, 2-1, in the tournament's Elimination Stage on Sunday (16 August).
With their victory, Spirit have also guaranteed themselves a Top 8 finish and an estimated US$121,885 in winnings. Despite a shaky 2025-2026 competitive season, Spirit are still in the running for a historic third Aegis of Champions.
They now join Group Stage top seeds 
TEAM VISION (aka PARIVISION), 
Nigma Galaxy, and 
Team Liquid as well as fellow Elimination Stage winners 
Team Falcons and 
BoomBoys (aka BetBoom Team) in the Playoffs.
Meanwhile, Resilience exit TI 2026 in a disappointing 9th-13th place with an estimated US$54,805 in consolation. With 
Xtreme Gaming failing to make it out of the Group Stage and 
Vici Gaming losing to Falcons in an earlier Elimination Stage match, there will be no Chinese teams playing in front of their home crowd in the TI 2026 Playoffs.
Such an outcome is a shame, when considering TI 2026 is only the second time that the country has hosted Dota 2's annual world championship tournament since 2019.
Team Spirit miss out on Playoff berth twice during the TI 2026 Group Stage
Spirit did not have much in the way of expectations heading into TI 2026, having to earn their spot in the tournament through the regional qualifiers. The team had a tumultuous season marked by multiple roster overhauls, eventually settling with star rookie 
Alexey “not me” Kosmynin taking over as the position 4 support. Aleksandr “rue” Filin has taken the position 5 support spot, as longtime Spirit captain Yaroslav “Miposhka” Naidenov has shifted to a coaching role.
But in true Spirit fashion, the team seem to have hit a higher gear whenever the Aegis of Champions is at stake. The two-time TI champions won three straight matches to kick off their campaign in the TI 2026 Group Stage, with not me notably showcasing excellent play in his TI debut.
Spirit swept Xtreme in Round 1, then followed it up with another sweep over regional rivals 
Aurora Gaming in Round 2. Round 3 then saw Spirit defeat Liquid in three games to get in position to secure a direct berth to the Playoffs in the final day of the Group Stage.
Spirit got their first shot at qualifying directly to the Playoffs in a showdown with VISION in Round 4. However, VISION soundly swept Spirit to secure the top seed of the Group Stage and the first spot in the Playoffs. Spirit still had a second chance at skipping the Elimination Stage, needing to defeat Nigma Galaxy in the final round of the Group Stage to do so. But a surging Nigma Galaxy instead pulled off a huge 2-0 upset over Spirit, securing a Playoff berth for themselves and forcing the two-time TI champions to play through the Elimination Stage.
Resilience barely escaped the Group Stage to get matched up against Spirit in the Elimination Stage. The Chinese squad understandably lost to VISION, 
LGD Gaming, and 
Team Yandex, but kept their tournament hopes alive by defeating 
OG and knocking out fellow Chinese squad Xtreme.
Team Spirit knock Team Resilience out of TI 2026 to lock up Playoff spot
Third time's the charm for Spirit it seems, as they finally secured a spot in the Playoffs by defeating Resilience in three games, while also ending Chinese Dota's hopes of reclaiming the Aegis of Champions for the second time. That first instance, of course, being Spirit's incredible run to the championship in TI 2021 that culminated with a 3-2 victory over LGD in the grand finals.
Spirit kicked off the series with a highly aggressive draft headlined by three strong melee cores in Lifestealer for 
Illya “Yatoro” Mulyarchuk, Earth Spirit for Denis “Larl” Sigitov, and Dark Seer for Magomed “Collapse” Khalilov. Not me on Windranger and rue on Ringmaster provided crowd control abilities to round out the lineup.
Resilience responded with a pair of ranged cores with plenty of magic damage burst in Lina for 
Shaohan “YSR-04E” Yang and Invoker for Ziliang “Echo” Xu. Kongbo “Niu” Li on Centaur Warrunner manned the frontlines, while Hao “plAnet” Lin on Rubick and Zhang “Zzq” Ziqiang on Winter Wyvern brought teamfight and utility abilities.
Not me sparked a fiery start for Spirit in game one, as he scored a Double Kill before the horn even sounded and got a third off an early gank in the mid lane. YSR and Echo were focused by multiple early ganks from Spirit, with both players having five deaths between the two of them in the first 10 minutes of the game. With Resilience's cores shut down so early, Spirit encountered little opposition as they secured their first win of the series in just under 30 minutes of action.
Yatoro paced his team's 29-9 kill lead in game one with a clean eight kills and seven assists. Not me also added eight kills and 14 assists on two deaths.
Game two was a battle between two ranged hard carries, with Spirit going with Drow Ranger for Yatoro, while Resilience opted for Muerta for YSR.
Spirit flanked their Drow Ranger with two tanky cores in Dragon Knight for Larl and Tidehunter for Collapse. Not me on Mirana and rue on Witch Doctor provided additional stuns and magic damage to complement their lineup's heavy physical damage output. Meanwhile, Resilience chose heroes with plenty of mobility and teamfight abilities to support their Muerta, with Echo on Ember Spirit, Niu on Centaur Warrunner, planet on Hoodwink, and zzq on Winter Wyvern.
Resilience got the better of Spirit in the early game this time around, as they dealt nine kills on the opposing core heroes in the first 12 minutes. The Chinese squad only continued to hunt down the opposing cores as they took over the map in the mid game, with Spirit desperately throwing their bodies away just to make space for Yatoro. While the Drow Ranger did show flashes of being able to carry Spirit once things went late, Spirit could only delay the inevitable until the 49-minute mark.
YSR willed the series to a decider by putting up 22 kills and 14 assists on three deaths to fuel Resilience's 54-21 kill lead in game two. Echo added 14 kills and 29 assists on four deaths, while Niu added 10 kills and 29 assists against five deaths.
With their tournament lives on the line in game three, Spirit pulled out Yatoro's signature Terrorblade pick to carry them to the Playoffs. Larl on Ember Spirit and Collapse on Underlord provided initiation and global presence while not me on Rubick and rue on Jakiro brought crowd control abilties from range.
Resilience went with a hard carry of their own in Shadow Fiend for YSR, with Echo on Puck, Niu on Pangolier, planet on Mirana, and zzq on Enchantress providing support.
Spirit repeatedly targeted YSR in the early game, scoring three kills on him in the first eight minutes to hamper his progression, all while Yatoro enjoyed uncontested farm. Those early moves from Spirit effectively decided the series, as YSR simply could not stand up to Yatoro in the ensuing teamfights. Despite Resilience's best efforts to mount a comeback, Spirit methodically picked them apart to secure their spot in the TI 2026 Playoffs after 39 minutes.
Yatoro led Spirit to the main event with a perfect 11-kill, three-assist performance out of Spirit's 29-14 kill lead in the decider. Larl also added nine kills and assists apiece on three 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.
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.
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