For BoomBoys' Kataomi, tournament favourites TEAM VISION are just another team they have to beat if they want to win The International 2026.
The battle for this year's Dota 2 world championship title at The International (TI) 2026 is set to resume on Thursday (20 August), with all eyes on Eastern European juggernauts 
TEAM VISION (PARIVISION) as the biggest favourites to claim the Aegis of Champions this year.
VISION were the first team to advance to the TI 2026 Playoffs after winning every match they played in the Group Stage. With how dominant their Group Stage run was, casual fans and enthusiasts alike expect VISION to continue that undefeated streak all the way to the grand finals.
Vladislav “Kataomi`” Semenov, position 5 support player for 
BoomBoys (aka BetBoom Team), would beg to differ. “I know TEAM VISION is beatable, like easy, because even teams like 
Team Resilience took a map from them in Group Stage,” said Kataomi in an exclusive interview with GosuGamers.
Indeed, VISION lost two games despite winning all of their Group Stage matches. The first came in the opening round of the Group Stage at the hands of Chinese underdogs Resilience, who were eliminated in the Elimination Stage by another Eastern European powerhouse in 
Team Spirit. Spirit themselves handed VISION their second loss in a three-game thriller in Round 4.
BoomBoys also faced VISION in Round 3 of the Group Stage, but got soundly swept. The second game of that match notably saw BoomBoys hold a decisive lead over their opponents in the late game, only to let it slip away and concede the series sweep after 68 minutes. That loss also put BoomBoys' head-to-head record against VISION this year at 5-13, which notably included a 1-3 loss in the grand finals of the Dota 2 Esports World Cup 2026 last month.
But for Kataomi, even that narrow game two loss in the Group Stage was proof that VISION were not invincible. Had they maintained their discipline, they would have forced the series to a deciding game three. And the momentum from that win could have very well allowed BoomBoys to be the ones to score a match victory over VISION.
“We also could've at least got one map from [VISION] in the Group Stage, but we just threw that game. The game was ours, we just threw it. So I don't think they're like some unbeatable team,” said Kataomi.
BoomBoys will get their chance to prove VISION can be defeated in the opening day of the Playoffs, where they will have a rematch in the upper bracket quarterfinals. If there will be a time for them to buck this year's trend and finally overcome VISION, there's no better place to do it than in the main stage of TI.
There are no final bosses in The International
VISION's dominant run through the TI 2026 Group Stage had many fans start calling them the “final bosses” of this year's world championship tournament. But Kataomi doesn't see them that way. BoomBoys respect VISION as a strong opponent, to be sure, but they are still just another team they have to defeat if they want to raise the Aegis of Champions.
Being a so-called “final boss” in TI has never been a guaranteed way to the championship anyway. In last year's TI, China's 
Xtreme Gaming could have been considered the final boss after they finished with the best record of the Group Stage at 8-2. However, Xtreme lost to VISION in the upper bracket semifinals. And while they did exact revenge over them in the lower bracket finals, the Chinese squad fell painfully short of the Aegis in the grand finals against 
Team Falcons.
BoomBoys, who notably had the second best record of the Group Stage last year, finished fourth after falling to Xtreme in the lower bracket semifinals. And despite being last year's runners-up, Xtreme failed to make it out of the Group Stage this year.
There are no final bosses in TI. Now in its 15th edition, the tournament has long proven that anything can happen in the game's biggest stage. Favourites fall, upsets abound, all prior tournament results don't matter–you will never truly know who will become the champions until the Aegis is raised.
And for the teams and players that enter this fiery crucible of champions year in and year out, the best way to deal with the pressure has always been to just focus on the game being played.
“We don't care much. If you want to win TI, you need to win against every team. It doesn't matter how strong they are,” said Kataomi.
BoomBoys' path to the championship
Since the BetBoom organisation joined the Dota 2 scene, the team have been steadily climbing the ranks by fielding some of the best players from Eastern Europe. Though the team's stacked roster haven't exactly been stacking trophies throughout that time.
But after Kataomi joined the team in September 2024, the organisation finally secured its first tournament title in BLAST Slam I three months later. A second trophy came after in FISSURE Universe: Episode 4 in March the next year, the third followed in PGL Wallachia Season 5 in June. They entered TI 2025 with high expectations and, as previously mentioned, finished fourth–a commendable result any organisation would kill for, but disappointing for a team of their calibre nonetheless.
BetBoom retooled for the 2025-2026 competitive season, replacing Ivan “Pure” Moskalenko with Ilja “Kiritych” Ulyanov. Offlaner Matvey “MieRo” Vasyunin, who also joined the team in 2024, accrued another year of experience with the roster alongside Kataomi. Team stalwarts Danil “gpk” Skutin and 
Vitalie “Save-” Melnic remained their bedrock.
According to Kataomi, integrating Kiritych essentially meant they had to start the season from scratch. The rest of the team had to adjust to how their new carry player wanted to play, with Kataomi himself having to adjust to a new laning partner.
“We got a new player, so we started from, let's say, zero. We were learning throughout the year with a new carry. We were learning not only to play with him, but overall the new map and stuff. So I think we were just growing with each tournament more and more,” said Kataomi.
BetBoom were unable to match their tournament wins from the previous year, only managing to win PGL Wallachia Season 8. They also had three Top 4 finishes in other tournaments before direct invites to TI 2026 were handed out in May, and they were among the seven squads to earn the honour. They accrued three more Top 4 placements before heading to TI 2026. Not bad for a team still growing.
“We didn't win many tournaments, only one. But we had a lot of high placements throughout the year, like second, third, fourth. One DreamLeague we sucked, but most of the tournaments we finished in a good spot,” said Kataomi.
But BoomBoys now have to show that growth can get them that elusive Aegis. Their TI 2026 campaign had a promising start, as they defeated 
OG and 
Iron Wing (aka 1w Team) in the first two rounds of the Group Stage. But then they suffered three straight losses against VISION, 
Aurora Gaming, and Falcons.
With a final Group Stage record of 2-3, BoomBoys did not have the luxury of choosing their opponent in the Elimination Stage. Instead, they were the ones chosen by Aurora, who likely thought they'd have an easy path to the Playoffs since they already swept them in the Group Stage.
But just as when everybody had counted them out, BoomBoys bounced back and soundly swept Aurora to punch their tickets to the main stage. In stark contrast to their previous meeting in the Group Stage, BoomBoys looked a level above Aurora in the Elimination Stage. It was an incredible turnaround to be sure, but it's also the kind of thing that just happens all the time in TI.
Now the bright lights of the Playoffs await. For Kataomi and the rest of BoomBoys, what happened before matters little. Not their throw against VISION in game two, not their measly 2-3 Group Stage record, not their revenge over Aurora in the Elimination Stage, and not even the fact they will be facing a heavily-favoured VISION once again in their first match of the Playoffs.
After all, it's TI, Dota 2's crucible of champions. All that matters now is focusing on the game they need to play.
“We just need to prepare. Have good preparations, good drafts, and just do our job. That's it,” said Kataomi.
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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