Team Spirit eliminate BoomBoys to set up a lower bracket finals showdown against Team Yandex to open the final day of TI 2026.
Only three teams remain in contention for the Aegis of Champions at The International (TI) 2026, as 
Team Spirit knocked out 
BoomBoys (aka BetBoom Team) in a 2-0 stomp in the lower bracket semifinals on Saturday (22 August).
The two-time TI champions now advance to the lower bracket finals to face regional rivals 
Team Yandex, with both teams set to clash for the right to challenge 
TEAM VISION (aka PARIVISION) in the grand finals.
The victory secures Spirit a podium finish and an estimated US$295,090 in prize money, adding yet another remarkable achievement to the team’s already prolific legacy. They now have a strong chance to claim the Aegis of Champions at TI 2026, which would mark an unprecedented third TI title for the organisation, as well as for star players 
Illya “Yatoro” Mulyarchuk and 
Magomed “Collapse” Khalilov as well as coach Yaroslav “Miposhka” Naidenov.
However, the feat will require them to overcome two final tournament favourites: first, a red-hot Team Yandex in the lower bracket final, before facing a daunting, undefeated VISION in the grand finals–both expected to be their strongest challenges at the event.
Meanwhile, the series loss sends BoomBoys out of TI 2026 in fourth place with an estimated US$196,771 in prize money earned. The team were among the frontrunners heading into this year’s TI following their most consistent season yet. They claimed five podium finishes during the 2025-2026 competitive season, including a second-place finish at the Dota 2 Esports World Cup last month. Despite a commendable Top 4 finish at TI 2026, it marks yet another year in which the Aegis has eluded the top-tier organisation and its persevering squad.
Team Spirit near a third TI title after a turbulent season
No organisation has come as close as Team Spirit currently is to claiming a historic third TI title, and few expected the team to make it this far in this year’s campaign after a shaky season.
Ahead of TI 2026, Team Spirit endured a rocky 2025-2026 competitive season following the departure of long-time team captain Yaroslav “Miposhka” Naidenov and coach Silent.. They struggled to adapt and underwent several roster changes, bringing in panto before bringing in not me from their academy team (
Yellow Submarine) to replace him. The supporting duo–not me and Aleksandr “rue” Filin–also swapped roles upon the shift.
These changes contributed to an unstable year, with a fourth-place finish at PGL Wallachia Season 7 in March standing as their best result at one point. However, Spirit eventually found their rhythm as the season progressed, particularly following Miposhka’s return who took over the coaching role towards the end of the season.
The team comfortably qualified for TI through the European region, then followed it up with a Top 8 finish at the Dota 2 Esports World Cup. They have continued to peak throughout TI 2026, looking stronger with each passing day.
The year’s world championship campaign started brilliantly for the team, with three consecutive wins against 
Xtreme Gaming, 
Aurora Gaming and 
Team Liquid. However, they stumbled on the following day with two consecutive losses against TEAM VISION and 
Nigma Galaxy, pushing them just outside the Top 3 in the Group Stage. As a result, Team Spirit were forced to go through the Elimination Round, where they faced a scare against China’s 
Team Resilience but ultimately made it through to the Playoffs with a 2-1 series win.
In the final phase of the event, Team Spirit swept 
Iron Wing in the opening upper bracket round before hitting a hard wall against TEAM VISION in the upper bracket semifinals, losing 1-2. They fell directly into the path of another two-time TI-winning organisation, Team Liquid, but proved superior in a 2-0 showdown. Following another victory over BoomBoys, Team Spirit have continued their Lower Bracket run, with only Team Yandex now standing between them and a place in the Grand Final.
Team Spirit have a strong chance of making history with a championship victory, becoming the first organisation to claim a third TI title, while 23-year-old Yatoro and 24-year-old Collapse would become the first three-time TI champions.
Beyond that, Denis “Larl” Sigitov would join the two-time champions club and Miposhka can take his first Aegis as a coach, adding to the two he previously won as a player with Spirit. Not me could also become the latest player to win the Aegis at his debut TI, joining the royal roaders club alongside the likes of 
Topias Miikka “Topson” Taavitsainen and 
Syed Sumail “SumaiL” Hassan.
How Team Spirit stomped BoomBoys in 65 minutes at TI 2026
Team Spirit opened the lower bracket semifinal series with a draft of comfortable meta picks, taking Winter Wyvern for rue, Ember Spirit for Larl and Rubick for not me. They then opted for Slardar on Collapse and a first-time Tiny for Yatoro at the tournament, creating significant burst potential against BoomBoys’ relatively fragile line-up.
The enemy put together another set of meta heroes, with Lina on gpk, Keeper of the Light on Save, Centaur Warrunner on Miero and Hoodwink on kataomi. However, a questionable last-pick Templar Assassin for Kiritych left the line-up particularly vulnerable.
During the laning stage, gpk’s Lina overextended while harassing Larl’s Ember Spirit, which saw him step beyond the Tier 1 tower line. This quickly prompted not me’s Rubick to teleport in and help secure a core kill. BoomBoys responded by bringing both supports to the mid lane, eventually taking down Larl as an exchange. The lane continued to see plenty of action, as BoomBoys’ supports helped secure the 10-minute Power Rune, which ended with Larl dying once again.
But the early phase wouldn’t mean much as just minutes later, Spirit grouped up to make deep incursions as Collapse grabbed a Blink Dagger. They claimed a support kill underneath the Tier 2 tower before advancing into the enemy jungle to pressure Kiritych’s Templar Assassin, followed by another support pick-off.
A misplay from Spirit saw Yatoro reveal his Blink Dagger to help burst down an enemy during a bottom-lane fight, but BoomBoys had the numbers to turn the engagement around and kill the Tiny, followed by a chase that also claimed not me.
While the net worth lead remained balanced for a while, a fight at the 20-minute mark finally saw Spirit take the advantage. What was a simple plan to catch not me’s Rubick in the bottom lane trees, became difficult as Slardar jumped in to defend. As both heroes began to retreat, BoomBoys activated Stampede to continue the chase. The rest of Team Spirit arrived just in time to turn the fight around, with only Lina managing to escape.
Team Spirit needed just that boost to propel themselves into complete dominance. They picked off valuable targets through aggressive rotations and even set up bold initiations inside BoomBoys’ base at the 29-minute mark. BoomBoys found several kills of their own, but they could not match Spirit’s overwhelming presence, spearheaded by Yatoro’s Tiny, who picked up a Godlike streak just minutes later.
A final attempt to turn the game around saw BoomBoys smoke up from inside their base, but the plan failed disastrously. not me’s well-positioned Rubick poked at BoomBoys and forced them into an awkward initiation, allowing Spirit to turn the fight around and claim four kills instead, sealing their first-map victory.
It did not seem possible, but the second map saw an even more dominant performance from Spirit, who picked Templar Assassin for themselves this time, with Yatoro showcasing the hero as another new flex pick at TI. BoomBoys responded with a rare Juggernaut last-pick for Kiritych, paired with gpk’s Invoker–both heroes making their first appearances at the tournament for their respective players.
Team Spirit kicked off the game with more mid-lane aggression to shut down gpk’s early momentum. Although Juggernaut enjoyed a strong farming pace with the extra space, Spirit made more valuable engagements around the map, rewarding them with a slight net worth advantage.
The team contested the seven-minute Wisdom Rune, shutting down an isolated Centaur Warrunner, claiming the bonus experience and stealing deep jungle stacks all in one sequence. A well-executed gank on Juggernaut in the top lane, aided by rue’s timely Clockwerk Hookshot to cancel his teleport, pushed the lead further in Spirit’s favour.
Interestingly, the Dota Plus win probability showed Team Spirit at 100% as early as the 13-minute mark, despite the team holding only a 3K net worth lead and an 8-2 advantage in kills. It was bizarre to see, but the prediction proved remarkably accurate.
Team Spirit delivered in every single fight, with Larl disrupting the enemy formation on Ember Spirit, Collapse providing crowd control on Underlord and the supports enabling Yatoro to freely dish out right-click damage.
BoomBoys were simply outclassed in every subsequent engagement as Spirit shredded them time and again. The game ended at 30 minutes, with Yatoro securing an Ultra Kill and finishing with a solid 15/1/8 KDA.
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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