Three Aegis contenders: PARIVISION, Team Yandex and Team Spirit's road to the final day of The International 2026

Only three teams remain at The International 2026 — PARIVISION, Team Yandex, and Team Spirit. The CIS region is already guaranteed the championship, but victory would have a special significance for each of the contenders.

PVISION will play in the grand final of the year's biggest tournament for the first time, Yandex is having the best season in its history, while two-time champions Spirit have the opportunity to become the first team to win three The International titles.

PARIVISION

The PARIVISION players entered the new season as one of the strongest teams in the world. At The International 2025, the team finished third after losing to Xtreme Gaming in the lower bracket final. The roster achieved the same result at Esports World Cup 2025.

Throughout the following season, the roster rarely dropped out of contention for titles. The team regularly reached the later stages of major tournaments, with one of its first trophies coming at DreamLeague Season 29, where it defeated Aurora Gaming 3:2 in the grand final.

The team also made a change in the offlane during the season. After Dmitry DM Dorokhin's departure, he was replaced by Evgeniy Noticed Ignatenko, who had previously represented Team Yandex. The offlaner initially played for PARIVISION as a stand-in before later becoming a full member of the roster.

The team's form peaked at Esports World Cup 2026. At one of the biggest tournaments of the season, the team reached the grand final and defeated BetBoom Team 3:1. As a result, PARIVISION entered The International 2026 as one of the main contenders for the title.

However, changes outside the playing roster took place shortly before TI. The team was forced to compete under the Team Vision tag, while Clement Puppey Ivanov joined the team to work with the players. His influence was later highlighted by both members of the professional scene and analysts.

At The International 2026, the team carried over its form from previous tournaments: Vision did not lose a single series in the group stage before advancing through the upper bracket to the grand final. The team has now guaranteed itself at least second place, improving on last year's result. The upcoming match will also be the first The International grand final of every player on the current roster.

Team Spirit

Team Spirit's path to its current result has been considerably more difficult. Despite winning The International 2021 and The International 2023, the organization's results at the biggest tournament have been significantly worse in recent years. At The International 2025, the team was considered one of the favorites after winning Esports World Cup 2025, but unexpectedly finished only 9th-13th after losing to Team Falcons in the match for a place in the playoffs.

Following the disappointing result at TI, the roster began to change. In the fall, Yaroslav Miposhka Naidenov stepped away from active competition, with Nikita panto Balaganin taking his place. Despite the change, the end of the year was fairly successful: Spirit finished second at PGL Wallachia Season 6 before reaching the grand final of DreamLeague Season 27. However, the team was unable to win the trophy on either occasion.

The rebuild continued in 2026. Milan MiLAN Kozomara became the team's new coach in March, while panto was moved to the bench in May. Alexey not me Kosmynin joined the roster and took over the fourth position, while Aleksandr rue Filin moved to hard support.

The changes did not produce immediate results. Spirit remained inconsistent throughout the season and went without a championship for a long time. The team's best result was third place at DreamLeague Season 29, while it finished outside the top four at several other major tournaments. As a result, the Dragons entered the biggest tournament of the year without the status of clear favorites they had held before the previous TI.

However, the rebuilt roster gradually became more consistent, and Miposhka returned to the team ahead of The International 2026, this time as a coach. Spirit eventually made it through the European qualifier and earned an opportunity to make up for the previous year's disappointing result.

At The International 2026, the team returned to the top three for the first time since winning the championship in 2023. Spirit will now face Team Yandex in the lower bracket final, with the winner advancing to face Team Vision for the Aegis.

The current tournament could become historic for the organization. Another title would make Team Spirit the first organization in Dota 2 history to win three Aegis trophies. For Illya Yatoro Mulyarchuk and Magomed Collapse Khalilov, it is also an opportunity to become the first three-time TI champions among the players on the current roster.

Team Yandex

For Team Yandex, the road to a top-three finish at The International 2026 effectively began as soon as the club entered the professional scene. The organization opened its Dota 2 division in the summer of 2025 by signing the Cyber Goose roster, but by the end of the year, the team had undergone significant changes and started producing strong results at the tier-one level.

One of the first major successes for the revamped roster came at the end of 2025. Yandex reached the final of DreamLeague Season 27, where it defeated Team Spirit and claimed its first major trophy. At the beginning of the following season, the results became less consistent: the team finished 3rd-4th at BLAST SLAM VI but failed to advance from the group stage of DreamLeague Season 28.

The turning point came in March at PGL Wallachia Season 7, where the team defeated practically all of its main rivals. During the tournament, Yandex beat Team Falcons, PARIVISION, Aurora Gaming, BetBoom Team, and Team Liquid twice. In the grand final, the team faced Liquid again and won 3:2. At this tournament, DM played for the team as a stand-in instead of Noticed and later became a permanent member of the roster. Ignatenko, in turn, joined PARIVISION, where Dorokhin had previously played. As a result, the two offlaners effectively swapped teams during the season.

Just two weeks later, Yandex confirmed its strong form at ESL One Birmingham 2026. The team reached its second consecutive grand final but this time lost to Tundra Esports 1:3. A sharp decline followed, with the team finishing only 15th-16th at PGL Wallachia Season 8.

However, that setback proved to be an isolated one. In June, the team won BLAST SLAM VII, finishing the tournament with a 3:1 victory over LGD Gaming in the grand final.

At The International 2026, the team once again confirmed its status as one of the main contenders and guaranteed itself a top-three finish at the biggest tournament of the year for the first time in the organization's history. After losing to Team Vision in the upper bracket final, Yandex will face Team Spirit for a place in the grand final.

Who will become The International 2026 champion

Ahead of the final day, Team Vision looks like the main favorite. The team was the only one to finish the group stage undefeated with a 4:0 series record before advancing through the upper bracket directly to the grand final.

In addition, Vladimir No[o]ne Minenko's team has already defeated both of its potential opponents at this tournament, beating Team Spirit 2:0 and Team Yandex 2:1. The latter two will first have to face each other in the lower bracket final.

It is also worth noting that Yandex has a significant advantage in head-to-head meetings, having won eight of its ten series against Spirit. The Dragons have managed to defeat their opponent only twice, most recently at the beginning of the year at FISSURE Universe: Episode 8.

Thus, Vision enters the grand final as the favorite and is already waiting for its opponent in the deciding series.

The International 2026 takes place from 13.08.2026 to 23.08.2026 in Shanghai, China. The tournament's prize pool has already exceeded $3,000,000. You can follow the championship in detail in our coverage.

Earlier, CyberScore shared a list of rumors and roster changes following TI15.