After underperforming throughout the Group Stage, Team Yandex have returned to their winning form in the Playoffs.
Eastern European Dota 2 powerhouse 
Team Yandex secured a spot in The International (TI) 2026 upper bracket semifinals after they soundly swept Western European contenders 
Team Liquid, 2-0, in the upper bracket quarterfinals on Thursday (20 August). This result marks a remarkable turnaround for Yandex, who struggled mightily to even make the Playoffs.
With their victory, Spirit have guaranteed themselves at least a Top 6 finish as well as an estimated US$159,864 in winnings. They now advance to the upper bracket semifinals where they will face the winner of the match between 
Team Falcons and 
Nigma Galaxy.
Meanwhile, Liquid will have to continue their campaign for the Aegis of Champions while under threat of elimination in the lower bracket.
Liquid shine in TI 2026 Group Stage while Yandex struggle
Both Liquid and Yandex earned direct invites to TI 2026 by virtue of being among the most consistent performers of the 2025-2026 season. Liquid were seen as a solid contender and entered TI 2026 with momentum on their side after winning 1win Essence II a week before the tournament started. Meanwhile, Yandex were seen by many as the second biggest favourite to win the Aegis of Champions behind 
TEAM VISION (aka PARIVISION).
But while Liquid and Yandex were both expected to make deep runs in the Playoffs, they took very different paths to the main event.
Liquid finished as the second seed of the Group Stage with a 4-1 record, which allowed them to skip the Elimination Stage and advance directly to the Playoffs.
They swept China's 
Vici Gaming in Round 1 then defeated Yandex in their first meeting of the tournament in Round 2. They suffered their first defeat of the tournament in Round 3 at the hands of Eastern Europe's 
Team Spirit, but were quick to bounce back in the next round with a 2-1 victory over regional rivals 
Iron Wing (aka 1w Team). Liquid then secured their spot in the Playoffs with a 2-1 reverse sweep over 
Aurora Gaming in the final round of the Group Stage.
In stark contrast, Yandex struggled mightily to even make the Playoffs. While they won their opening match of the Group Stage against 
HULIGANI, they suffered back-to-back losses against Liquid and Aurora in the next two rounds. Yandex then bounced back in Round 4 by routing 
Team Resilience, and needed to win in Round 5 to have the luxury of selecting their opponent in the Elimination Stage.
However, Yandex fell in three games to Iron Wing and finished the Group Stage with an abysmal 2-3 record, which meant they entered the Elimination Stage as the lower seed. They were matched up against a surging LGD Gaming squad, who had momentum behind them thanks in large part to the heroics of last-minute stand-in and two-time TI champion 
Topias Miikka “Topson” Taavitsainen. After getting mauled in game one by LGD, Yandex managed to right the ship and pull off a 2-1 reverse sweep to advance to the main event.
Reaching the main stage seems to have flipped a switch in Yandex, as they looked every bit like the top favourites they were once seen as in a rout over Liquid.
Team Yandex outclass Team Liquid to advance to TI 2026 upper bracket semifinals
Yandex opened the series with a lineup that featured plenty of damage output and staying ability. 
Alimzhan “Watson” Islambekov on Windranger brought the majority of the team's firepower, 
Ilya “CHIRA_JUNIOR” Chirtsov on a mid Io acted as a secondary carry and provided the team with sustain alongside Dmitry “DM” Dorokhin on Largo. 
Martin “Saksa” Sazdov on Enchantress and Arman “Malady” Orazbayev on Hoodwink then brought additional damage and crowd control from long range to round out the draft.
Meanwhile, Liquid opted for a hard-hitting tri-core with global presence with 
Micke “miCKe” Vu on Tiny, 
Michał “Nisha” Jankowski on a mid Nature's Prophet, and 
Marcus “Ace” Hoelgaard on Dawnbreaker. Samuel “Boxi” Svahn on Tusk and 
Erik “tOfu” Engel on Mirana brought up the rear and provided additional initiation and saving abilities.
Game one was a back-and-forth thriller the likes of which can only happen in the main stage of TI.
Liquid held the gold lead after the laning stage, making good use of their advantage to fend off Yandex's attempts to force an engagement on their terms. Liquid looked to be in a dominant position 27 minutes in, when they claimed the first Roshan and handed Nisha the first Aegis of the Immortals to better lead his team's aggression. However, Yandex punished a bold attempt by Nisha to push their mid Tier 1 tower, killing him through the Aegis and scoring additional kills on Ace and miCKe as they attempted to reinforce.
Four minutes later, Liquid struck back by scoring a huge pickoff on Watson that emboldened them to attempt a siege of their opponents' base. However, that push up the enemy high ground ended in disaster for Liquid as miCKe and Nisha were both taken down, with Yandex making good use of that opening to destroy their opponents' mid set of barracks.
The chaos of late game Dota ensued from there. Despite their barracks disadvantage, Liquid managed to take down both Watson and CHIRA_JUNIOR without buyback at the 44-minute mark that allowed them to finally break into Yandex's base. But even as Liquid's net worth lead reached over 35,000 gold, Yandex put up a stubborn defense of their base even as things looked grim for them at the 51-minute mark.
Liquid were poised for a game-ending push, as they had the Aegis on Nisha and Yandex were down one hero without buyback. Despite the odds stacked against his team, Watson put on one of the most masterful teamfight performances to will his team to victory. After whittling down Nisha and forcing him to proc the Aegis, Watson landed a two-man Shackleshot that allowed him to take out Nisha for a second time. Liquid's mid laner then bought back and teleported in to finish the siege, only to be taken out by Watson for a third time and without buyback. MiCKe attempted to finish off Watson shortly after, but narrowly lost the man fight.
Liquid were spent at that point, and Yandex wasted no time to march across the map and destroy the enemy ancient after 54 minutes of action. Watson finished that incredible game with a fittingly exceptional stat line of 18 kills and 10 assists on four deaths.
Yandex threw curveballs in the draft for game two. While they picked Io again, they gave it to Watson instead then picked an unorthodox mid Slark for CHIRA_JUNIOR. DM on Tidehunter was tasked with causing chaos in the enemy ranks to give his fellow cores space to dive the backlines. Saksa on Bounty Hunter provided vision to enable that strategy in fights while Malady on Hoodwink again provided much-needed crowd control.
Meanwhile, Liquid picked the Windranger for themselves and gave it to Nisha while MiCKe was given a carry Ember Spirit. Ace on Dark Seer, Boxi on Clockwerk, and tOfu on Winter Wyvern brought strong teamfight and initiation abilities to round out the lineup.
Liquid seemed to have run out of gas after their loss in game one, as Yandex simply ran them over in the laning stage. Yandex remained unchallenged through the mid game, as Liquid's poor start rendered them unable to put up resistance. From there, it was simply a matter of methodically dismantling their opponents in the ensuing clashes for Yandex until Liquid conceded the series sweep after 38 minutes.
Watson paced his team's 38-13 kill lead in game two with 14 kills and 17 assists on just one death. CHIRA_JUNIOR added nine kills and 15 assists on two deaths while DM pitched in with a clean seven kills and 17 assists.
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.
