Team Yandex shook off a poor showing in the Group Stage and bounced back in the Elimination Stage to qualify for The International 2026 Playoffs.
Eastern European Dota 2 powerhouse 
Team Yandex became the final team to advance to The International (TI) 2026 Playoffs after they pulled off a 2-1 reverse sweep over the tournament's lone South American representative, 
LGD Gaming, to close out the Elimination Stage on Sunday (16 August).
With their victory, Yandex have also guaranteed themselves a Top 8 finish and an estimated US$121,885 in winnings. 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, 
BoomBoys (aka BetBoom Team), 
Team Spirit, and 
Iron Wing (aka 1w Team) in the Playoffs.
Meanwhile, LGD bow out of TI 2026 in 9th-13th place with an estimated US$54,805 in consolation, joining fellow Elimination Round losers 
Vici Gaming, 
Aurora Gaming, 
Team Resilience, and 
GamerLegion. While LGD fall short of making the Playoffs, the fact they even got this far is commendable when considering the circumstances the team faced ahead of TI 2026.
Mere days before the tournament began, LGD mid laner 
Santiago “TaiLung” Agüero Gustavo was banned from competing due to issues with the player's competitive integrity. To fill the hole in their roster, LGD had to call on two-time TI champion 
Topias Miikka “Topson” Taavitsainen as a last-minute stand-in just so they could compete.
LGD rise to the occasion in TI 2026 Group Stage while Yandex stumble
Not many expected LGD would end up facing Yandex in the Elimination Stage, and as the higher seed no less.
LGD were already considered a wildcard team even before they got Topson as a stand-in, with many expecting the rest of the team wouldn't be able to adjust their games around their new mid laner quickly enough. In stark contrast, Yandex entered TI 2026 with expectations of a deep run, with a potential grand finals appearance certainly not out of the question.
But as the TI 2026 Group Stage and Elimination Stage would eventually show, expectations matter little once the competition actually starts.
LGD finished the Group Stage with a surprising 3-2 record. While they lost to Falcons in their opening match in Round 1, they quickly bounced back in Round 2 by taking down Resilience in three games. In Round 3, LGD got swept by Nigma Galaxy, an understandable loss in retrospect when considering Nigma Galaxy ended up being one of the top Group Stage seeds.
LGD then closed out their Group Stage campaign by continuing to be the bane of the Chinese teams, defeating Xtreme in three games in Round 4 and sweeping Vici in Round 5.
But while LGD's Group Stage run exceeded expectations, Yandex put up a disappointing performance in comparison. They only managed a 2-3 record in the Group Stage, with their only wins coming against underdog squads like 
HULIGANI and Resilience. Yandex's losses came at the hands of Liquid, Aurora, and Iron Wing–all powerhouse teams in their own right, but were seen as a class below Yandex ahead of TI 2026.
That then set up arguably the closest matchup of the Elimination Stage as a struggling Yandex squad had to face an LGD side with plenty of momentum behind them.
Yandex reverse sweep LGD to become the final team qualified for TI 2026 Playoffs
Having found themselves in a do-or-die match for the Playoffs, Yandex finally managed to return to their winning form. Despite a crushing loss in game one, the Eastern European squad rallied in game two then outlasted LGD in a 68-minute decider to complete the reverse sweep.
LGD opened the series with an unorthodox draft featuring stuns aplenty, with 
Yuma “Yuma” Langlet on Sven, Topson on Dragon Knight, 
Adrian “Wisper” Cespedes Dobles on Enigma, 
Matheus Santos “KingJungles” Diniz on Centaur Warrunner, and Thiago “Thiolicor” Cordeiro on Mirana.
Meanwhile, Yandex went for meta picks like Kez for 
Alimzhan “Watson” Islambekov, Earth Spirit for 
Ilya “CHIRA_JUNIOR” Chirtsov, Underlord for Dmitry “DM” Dorokhin, Lion for 
Martin “Saksa” Sazdov, and Witch Doctor for Arman “Malady” Orazbayev.
Game one started off with both teams on relatively even footing until LGD blew the game wide open with a huge teamwipe across two fights in the bottom and mid lane around the 24-minute mark. LGD didn't waste this golden opportunity and quickly snowballed to take game one in a 24-minute stomp.
Topson paced LGD's 24-11 kill lead in the series opener with 10 kills and 10 assists on just one death. Yuma also pitched in with eight kills and three assists on two deaths.
Game two then saw Yandex pull out the carry Io for Watson as part of a very tanky lineup that also included Dragon Knight for CHIRA_JUNIOR, Doom for DM, Bounty Hunter for Saksa, and Undying for Malady. LGD fielded another unorthodox draft featuring Yuma on a carry Vengeful Spirit, Topson on Lina, Wisper on Magnus, KingJungles on a support Centaur Warrunner, and Thiolicor on Mirana.
Mirroring what happened in game one, game two also had a quiet laning stage before Yandex exploded into the lead by winning multiple clashes thanks in large part to Watson tanking through everything LGD threw at him. From there, Yandex simply fended off LGD's attempts to defend and forced the series to a decider after 38 minutes of action.
Watson put up 12 kills and assists apiece on just two deaths to fuel Yandex's 30-17 kill lead in game two. CHIRA_JUNIOR also added nine kills and 12 assists against three deaths.
With everything on the line in game three, Yandex drafted a pair of high-damage ranged cores in Lina for Watson and Snapfire for CHIRA_JUNIOR. DM on Dark Seer and Malady on Winter Wyvern provided some much-needed teamfight crowd control abilities, while Saksa on Bounty Hunter was tasked with getting vision on the enemy to set up initiations.
On the other side of the map, LGD fielded a tri-core of Necrophos for Yuma, Dragon Knight for Topson, and Windranger for Wisper. Thiolicor provided crowd control from long range while KingJungles on Undying was tasked with saving his cores from getting bursted with Tombstone.
While Wisper suffered five deaths in the first 20 minutes of the game, LGD were firmly in the lead by the mid game as Yandex did not have the firepower to match them in the head-on clashes. However, the tables turned in a disastrous fight for LGD around the Dire bottom Tier 1 tower, where Yuma was bursted down and KingJungles was unable to save his carry with Tombstone.
With LGD losing all momentum just as Yandex's lineup started peaking in power, the Eastern European squad proceeded to methodically pick apart their opponents. And despite LGD's best efforts to mount a comeback, they could only delay the game to 68 minutes before ultimately conceding the series and their place in TI 2026.
CHIRA_JUNIOR and Watson led Yandex to the Playoffs, with the former putting up 17 kills and 21 assists while the latter notched 13 kills and 12 assists. Both players also only had two deaths apiece.
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.
For Dota 2 match results and updates on the go, don't forget to check out our Telegram channel.
