The biggest favourites to claim this year's Aegis of Champions come one step closer to the title.
Eastern European Dota 2 juggernauts 
TEAM VISION advanced to the upper bracket finals of The International (TI) 2026 after they soundly defeated regional rivals 
Team Spirit, 2-1, in the upper bracket semifinals on Friday (21 August).
With their victory, VISION have guaranteed themselves at least a Top 3 finish as well as US$291,344 in winnings. The team seen by most to be the biggest favourites to claim the Aegis of Champions this year are now one more match victory away from the grand finals, with their opponent in the upper bracket finals being the winner of the other upper bracket semifinal between 
Team Yandex and 
Nigma Galaxy.
Meanwhile, Spirit drop down to the lower bracket and will have to continue their campaign for a third Aegis while under threat of elimination. They will fight for their tournament lives in the lower bracket quarterfinals against fellow Eastern European team 
BoomBoys (aka BetBoom Team) on Saturday (22 August).
TEAM VISION and Team Spirit's journey to the upper bracket semifinals at TI 2026
VISION were quick to validate those that pegged them as the biggest favourites in TI 2026, as they went undefeated in the Group Stage and became the first team to advance directly to the Playoffs.
VISION kicked off their Group Stage campaign by defeating China's 
Team Resilience in three games in Round 1 then followed it up with another three-game victory in Round 2, this time against defending champions 
Team Falcons. In Round 3, VISION put themselves in position for a direct berth to the Playoffs by soundly sweeping BoomBoys.
Meanwhile, Spirit were seen as another top contender for the Aegis, though not quite at the level of VISION. Even so, Spirit also won their first three matches in the Group Stage. They scored back-to-back sweeps over China's 
Xtreme Gaming and fellow Eastern European squad 
Aurora Gaming in the first two rounds, then defeated Western Europe's 
Team Liquid in three games in Round 3.
As the two teams with perfect records after the first three rounds, VISION and Spirit were matched up in Round 4, with the winners claiming the top seed of the Group Stage and a spot in the Playoffs. VISION emerged victorious against Spirit with a 2-0 sweep in their first showdown in TI 2026.
While VISION were able to rest easy afterwards with a Playoff berth already secured, Spirit had to play two more matches before advancing to the main event. In Round 5 of the Group Stage, Spirit fell victim to a 2-0 upset at the hands of Nigma Galaxy and were forced to fight through the Elimination Stage.
Spirit were the ones to end China's hopes of seeing one of their teams in the TI 2026 Playoffs, as they knocked out Resilience in the Elimination Stage to finally secure their spot in the main event in their third try.
A highly-anticipated rematch between VISION and Spirit was then set up after both teams won their respective opening matches of the Playoffs. Spirit soundly swept Western Europe's 
Iron Wing (1w Team) while VISION took down BoomBoys in three games.
TEAM VISION outlast Team Spirit to advance to the upper bracket finals of TI 2026
VISION opened the series with a signature draft by coach 
Clement “Puppey” Ivanov, featuring 
Alan “Satanic” Gallyamov on Nature's Prophet, 
Volodymyr “No[o]ne” Minenko on a mid Slark, Evgeniy “Noticed” Ignatenko on Doom, Naltakyan “9Class” Edgar on Rubick, and Andrey “Dukalis” Kuropatkin on a rarely-seen Ogre Magi pick.
Meanwhile, Spirit opted for some comfort picks headlined by one of Illya “Yatoro” Mulyarchuk's signature heroes in Terrorblade. Denis “Larl” Sigitov also had Ember Spirit, Magomed “Collapse” Khalilov was on Night Stalker, Alexey “not me” Kosmynin got Hoodwink, and Aleksandr “rue” Filin was given Undying.
VISION were aggressive from the get-go, dominating the laning stage and preventing Yatoro from getting the farm he needed to contest their moves. Spirit's other cores then spent most of the mid game trying to set up ganks to give their carry more space, but VISION deftly repelled those gank attempts and continued to build on their lead.
Spirit did have a brief window of opportunity for a comeback open up starting at the 38-minute mark. After losing their top set of barracks, they scored huge four kills on a retreating VISION squad and followed it up by pushing across the map to set up a play for Roshan. With VISION's heroes seconds away from respawning, Spirit entered the pit and were on the verge of taking down Roshan when its mechanic to switch to the pit at the other side of the map was triggered. Roshan then proceeded to toss Spirit's heroes away as it made its move, allowing VISION to swoop in to score more kills and claim the Aegis of the Immortal for themselves. Spirit were forced to call ‘GG’ not long after.
Satanic paced his team's 28-20 kill lead in game one with 12 kills and 12 assists on two deaths. No[o]ne and Noticed also notched six kills apiece and combined for 27 assists against four deaths between the two of them.
In game two, VISION confidently pulled out a Drow Ranger pick for Satanic. No[o]ne and Noticed were given Puck and Timbersaw, respectively, to man the front lines, while 9class on Dark Willow and Dukalis on Undying rounded out the lineup.
Spirit responded to their opponents' Drow Ranger pick with three of its biggest counters, namely Phantom Lancer for Yatoro, a mid Night Stalker for Larl, and Doom for Collapse. Not me was then given Clockwerk for even more initiation power while rue on Winter Wyvern gave the team some much-needed crowd control for teamfights.
In stark contrast to game one, Spirit were the ones putting overwhelming pressure on VISION as soon as the horn sounded. While Yatoro was free-farming on one sided of the map, the rest of Spirit were wreaking havoc on VISION in the other, with Spirit's gank squads scoring 15 kills from the 10 to 20-minute marks. And after Spirit scored a demoralising teamwipe in the 28-minute mark, VISION called an early ‘GG’ knowing the game was already far beyond saving.
Larl led the way for Spirit in game two with 12 kills and seven assists on one death out of the team's lopsided 29-8 kill lead. Yatoro added six kills and eight assists on two deaths, Collapse pitched in with a clean five kills and 11 assists, while not me recorded three kills and a game-high 21 assists on five deaths.
With a spot in the upper bracket finals on the line in game three, both teams fielded drafts with hard carries as their primary win conditions.
VISION gave Shadow Fiend to Satanic then surrounded him with Ember Spirit for No[o]ne, Doom for Noticed, Dark Willow for 9class, and Mirana for Dukalis. Meanwhile, Spirit picked Sven for Yatoro then picked Invoker for Larl, Underlord for Collapse, Lion for not me, and Winter Wyvern for rue.
Despite an early kill on Satanic, VISION handily won the laning stage and significantly hampered the progression of their opponents' lineup. With Spirit scrambling all around the map to find what farm they can, VISION were left free to score pickoffs on isolated heroes and claim map objectives. While Spirit's draft did show its teeth once it finally came online, they still could not fully match VISION in the head-on clashes. And despite their best efforts to mount a comeback, which included an incredible Aegis snatch by rue at the 35-minute mark, Spirit ultimately conceded the series to VISION after 46 minutes.
Satanic led VISION to the upper bracket finals with 15 kills and six assists on two deaths. Noticed added eight kills and 17 assists on two deaths while No[o]ne pitched in with five kills and 28 assists against just one death.
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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