1Win Essence II: last tournament before The International 2026 announced

The organizers have officially announced the second online tournament in the 1Win Essence II series with a $200,000 prize pool. Information about the event was published on social media.

The tournament will take place from 30.07.2026 to 05.08.2026. The group stage will run from 30.07.2026 to 02.08.2026 and feature 10 teams. The top eight teams will advance to the playoffs.

The organizers have said that the list of participating teams will be revealed at a later date. It also remains unclear whether any teams will receive direct invitations to the playoffs, as two teams at the first tournament in the series began their campaign directly from the second stage, bypassing the group stage.

Several tier-one teams are expected to take part in the tournament to gain match practice ahead of The International 2026, which begins on 13.08.2026 — one week after the conclusion of 1W Essence.

However, the tournament could also take place without teams that have qualified for TI15, as the year's premier event will be held in China, and participating teams will likely need to arrive at the venue in advance.

The first event in the series, 1Win Essence I, was held from 02.05.2026 to 11.05.2026. It was won by PARIVISION, which defeated 1Win Team 3:0 in the grand final. You can read our event report for the full tournament recap.

Earlier, Cyberscore reported on the announcement of EPL Masters I, a tournament with a similar format and a $100,000 prize pool.