All Dota 2 The International 2026 Participants

The International 2026 will bring 16 teams to Shanghai between August 13 and 23. Seven teams received direct invitations, while nine earned their places through regional qualifiers in Europe, China, Southeast Asia, North America and South America.

The field includes the defending TI champion, several consistently successful teams and a handful of qualifiers with limited international experience. This overview examines how every participant reached TI 2026, their current roster, recent form and realistic position within the field.

TI 2026 teams at a glance

The names require some explanation. BetBoom Team qualified under the neutral BoomBoys name, while PARIVISION became Team Vision for the TI circuit because of Valve’s restrictions on gambling-related branding. The invited Tundra Esports lineup subsequently transferred to 1win, and the former L1GA TEAM qualified as HULIGANI.

Directly invited teams

Aurora Gaming

Roster: Nightfall, Mikoto, Ws, Mira, kaori

Aurora enter TI without a major title in 2026, but their consistency explains the direct invitation. The team finished second at DreamLeague Season 28, PGL Wallachia Season 8 and DreamLeague Season 29, demonstrating an ability to survive deep into different tournament formats.

The concern is conversion. Aurora have repeatedly approached the final step without taking it, and their ninth-place finish at the Esports World Cup was a disappointing final test before TI. Their overall season still places them among the contenders, but they need to turn stable tournament runs into victories against the strongest teams.

BoomBoys / BetBoom Team

Roster: Kiritych, gpk, MieRo, Save-, Kataomi

BetBoom Team will use the BoomBoys name at TI, but the roster remains unchanged. The team won PGL Wallachia Season 8, placed third at PGL Wallachia Season 7 and BLAST Slam VII, and then reached the Esports World Cup final.

The EWC run is particularly important because it showed that BetBoom can deliver through a long international event rather than simply peak in isolated series. Their 3–1 defeat to PARIVISION exposed the remaining gap at the top, but no other participant arrives with a more convincing combination of recent form and season-long stability.

Team Falcons

Roster: skiter, Malr1ne, ATF, Cr1t-, Sneyking

Falcons return as the defending champions after beating Xtreme Gaming 3–2 in the TI 2025 grand final. The same five-player roster remains in place, giving the team considerably more continuity than several of its direct rivals.

Their 2026 results have been respectable rather than dominant: third at PGL Wallachia Season 8, fourth at DreamLeague Season 29 and seventh at the Esports World Cup. Falcons retain the experience and individual quality required to defend the Aegis, but current form places them one level below the leading trio.

Team Liquid

Roster: miCKe, Nisha, Ace, Boxi, tOfu

Liquid rebuilt their front line by adding Ace and tOfu, but the new roster has already shown a high ceiling. The team won BLAST Slam VI, placed second at PGL Wallachia Season 7 and finished inside the top four at both DreamLeague Season 28 and PGL Wallachia Season 8.

Later results were less convincing, including a tenth-place finish at the Esports World Cup. Liquid therefore enter TI as a dangerous but difficult team to rank: their best performances are championship-level, while their weaker tournaments suggest the roster has not yet achieved reliable form.

1win Team

Roster: Pure, bzm, 33, Ari, Whitemon

This lineup earned its invitation as Tundra Esports before the entire roster and coaching staff transferred to 1win in June. The move changed the organization but preserved the five-player unit, so the direct invitation followed the roster to its new home.

The team’s first major appearance under the 1win name ended in 11th place at the Esports World Cup. That is not enough to erase the body of work that earned the invitation, but it makes their current level harder to evaluate. With Pure, bzm and 33 occupying the three core positions, 1win have the individual quality to make a deep run if the organizational transition has not disrupted their preparation.

Xtreme Gaming

Roster: Ame, NothingToSay, Xxs, fy, xNova

Xtreme Gaming return after finishing second at TI 2025. Their 2026 season has included victory at ESL Challenger China Season 2, fourth place at DreamLeague Season 28 and third at ESL One Birmingham.

The roster combines some of the most accomplished active Chinese players, but its results have fluctuated between genuine title contention and earlier-than-expected exits. Xtreme remain China’s strongest team on paper, although Vici Gaming’s late-season rise means they are no longer the region’s only credible threat.

Team Yandex

Roster: watson, CHIRA_JUNIOR, DM, Saksa, Malady

Team Yandex have constructed one of the strongest tournament records of the season. They defeated Liquid 3–2 to win PGL Wallachia Season 7, added the BLAST Slam VII title with a 3–1 victory over LGD and finished third at the Esports World Cup.

Their profile differs from teams relying primarily on reputation or isolated peaks. Yandex have already won major events under different conditions and followed those titles with another deep international run. They enter TI as one of the three clearest favorites.

European qualifier teams

Valve merged Eastern and Western Europe into a single qualifier and assigned it four TI places. The result was an unusually strong bracket in which established international teams competed alongside open-qualifier squads.

Team Spirit

Roster: Yatoro, Larl, Collapse, not me, rue

Spirit claimed the first European place by beating Nigma Galaxy 2–1. They completed the qualifier with a 6–1 map record, but the fact that the two-time TI-winning organization had to qualify at all reflects a less dominant season.

Third place at DreamLeague Season 29 and sixth at the Esports World Cup show that Spirit remain competitive against elite opposition. The younger support duo creates more uncertainty than the established Yatoro–Larl–Collapse core, but Spirit’s ceiling remains high enough for another serious TI run.

Team Vision / PARIVISION

Roster: Satanic, No[o]ne, Noticed, 9Class, Dukalis

PARIVISION competed as Team Vision during the TI qualifier and secured the second European slot by defeating Virtus.pro 2–1. Their need to qualify was notable, but their subsequent results have made the route almost irrelevant to their current status.

The team won DreamLeague Season 29 and then dominated the Esports World Cup, losing only three games before beating BetBoom 3–1 in the final. No participant enters Shanghai with stronger recent evidence of championship form. Team Vision are both the most dangerous qualifier and arguably the strongest team in the field.

HULIGANI

Roster: ssnovv1, Mirage, Vazya, sayuw, RESPECT

HULIGANI produced the biggest surprise of the European qualifier. After dropping into the lower bracket, they defeated 4ikibamboni and ENJOY before consecutive 2–1 victories over NAVI and Virtus.pro secured the third European place.

The run proved that HULIGANI can perform under elimination pressure, but their international record remains limited compared with the rest of the field. Several players will make their TI debuts, and a deep run would require them to reproduce their qualifier peak against significantly stronger opposition.

Nigma Galaxy

Roster: SumaiL, lorenof, Davai, OmaR, GH

Nigma claimed the final TI place by defeating Yellow Submarine 2–1. Their qualifier included clean wins over Rune Eaters and NAVI, a competitive defeat to Spirit and a difficult final series lasting almost four hours.

Their eighth-place finish at the Esports World Cup provided further evidence that the rebuilt lineup can compete internationally. Nigma lack the consistent top-level results of the favorites, but their mixture of TI experience and improving form makes them a credible playoff candidate.

Chinese qualifier teams

China received two qualifier slots in addition to Xtreme Gaming’s direct invitation. Both qualifiers arrive with very different profiles: Team Resilience dominated regionally, while Vici Gaming have already delivered an international breakthrough.

Team Resilience

Roster: Erika, EchozZ, niu, planet, zzq

Team Resilience formed in April and required little time to establish themselves. They qualified without dropping a map, defeating Cloud Rising, Team Refuser and Yakutou Brothers 2–0 to claim the first Chinese slot.

The lineup contains experienced players, but the team itself has played only a small number of major events. That makes Resilience difficult to measure: their regional results demand respect, while the absence of extensive international evidence keeps them outside the main group of contenders.

Vici Gaming

Roster: shiro, Xm, Bach, XinQ, y`

Vici returned to professional Dota in 2026 and qualified by defeating Yakutou Brothers 2–1 for China’s second place. Their earlier season included victory at ESL Challenger China Season 3 and a top-eight result at PGL Wallachia Season 7.

The strongest evidence arrived at the Esports World Cup. Vici eliminated defending TI champion Falcons, reached the semifinals and ultimately finished fourth behind PARIVISION, BetBoom and Team Yandex. That run elevates them from regional qualifier to one of TI’s most credible dark horses.

Southeast Asia qualifier: OG

Roster: Natsumi, Yopaj, Raven, TIMS, skem

OG will attend TI with an all-Filipino roster that came through the Southeast Asian qualifier. The lineup had already shown international potential by reaching the top four at BLAST Slam VI, although ninth–tenth-place finishes at DreamLeague Season 28 and BLAST Slam VII exposed its inconsistency.

The organization’s two previous Aegis victories have little direct relevance to this completely different lineup. Current OG should instead be viewed as an experienced Southeast Asian roster with enough individual skill to reach the playoffs, but insufficient consistency to enter the tournament as a leading contender.

North America qualifier: GamerLegion

Roster: Ghost, RCY, Fayde, Bignum, Speeed

GamerLegion were the clear favorite in a four-team North American qualifier and completed the bracket without losing a map. They defeated The Bug 2–0 before sweeping 4 Anchors and Ilmeria 3–0 in the grand final.

International results provide a less encouraging picture. GamerLegion finished outside the top eight in five of their first six Tier 1 appearances of the season, with seventh–tenth at BLAST Slam VI their best placement. They are comfortably North America’s strongest representative, but still enter TI as one of its clearest outsiders.

South America qualifier: LGD Gaming

Roster: Yuma, TaiLung, Wisper, Thiolicor, KJ

LGD returned to Dota 2 by signing the former HEROIC core and competed through the South American qualifier despite representing a Chinese organization. They secured the region’s only place by beating PlayTime twice, including a 3–0 victory in the final.

The lineup finished second at BLAST Slam VII shortly before qualifying, demonstrating a much higher ceiling than its regional route might suggest. Its 12th-place EWC result was a setback, but LGD remain capable of reaching the TI playoffs and punishing teams that evaluate them as a conventional regional underdog.

What the TI 2026 field tells us

The qualification route is not a reliable power ranking. Team Vision had to survive the European qualifier but subsequently won the Esports World Cup, while directly invited teams such as Falcons, Liquid, Aurora and 1win all finished below the EWC top four.

Europe remains the center of the competitive field. It received four of the nine qualifier places and also supplied most of the directly invited lineups, leaving the other regions dependent on a smaller number of representatives.

China has the clearest opportunity to challenge that dominance. Xtreme Gaming bring the strongest established record, Vici arrive after an EWC semifinal run, and Team Resilience add a less predictable third roster. With TI returning to Shanghai, China has both numerical representation and at least two realistic routes to a deep finish.

The field also demonstrates how little organization names now reveal about regional identity. A South American roster represents LGD Gaming, a Filipino lineup plays for OG, and the former Tundra roster enters under 1win. Evaluating the participants requires following the lineups rather than relying on the histories attached to their tags.

TI 2026 power ranking

Tournament favorites

• Team Vision / PARIVISION
• BoomBoys / BetBoom Team
• Team Yandex

These three teams occupied the EWC podium and also own major titles from earlier in the season. Team Vision have the strongest immediate form, while BetBoom and Yandex provide the most convincing alternatives.

Serious contenders

• Aurora Gaming
• Team Falcons
• Team Liquid
• 1win Team
• Xtreme Gaming
• Team Spirit

Every team in this group has enough talent and experience to win TI, but each carries a clear concern. Those concerns range from Aurora’s difficulty converting finals and Liquid’s inconsistency to 1win’s organizational transition and Spirit’s uneven season.

Playoff candidates

• Vici Gaming
• Nigma Galaxy
• LGD Gaming
• OG
• Team Resilience

Vici sit closest to the contender group after their fourth-place EWC finish. Nigma and LGD have also demonstrated international potential, while OG and Resilience need to convert shorter periods of strong form into a complete tournament run.

Outsiders

• GamerLegion
• HULIGANI

Both teams earned their places convincingly, but neither has demonstrated sustained results against elite international opposition. Reaching the eight-team playoffs would already represent a successful tournament for either lineup.

Who has the best chance at TI 2026?

Team Vision enter as the strongest team on current form. Winning DreamLeague Season 29 and the Esports World Cup gives them the best recent tournament record, even though they reached TI through the qualifier rather than a direct invitation.

BetBoom and Team Yandex are the closest challengers, while defending champion Falcons remain too experienced to dismiss. Vici Gaming are the most compelling dark horse after their EWC run, and HULIGANI face the hardest task after moving directly from an upset-heavy qualifier campaign into the strongest field of the season.