Veterans Return: Topson, Ceb and Arteezy to compete in The International 2026 qualifiers

Two-time The International champion (2018 and 2019) Topias Topson Taavitsainen revealed during his Twitch stream that he will compete in the open qualifiers for The International 2026.

According to the player, Sebastian Ceb Debs, Artour Arteezy Babaev, Max qojqva Broker and Axel Pablo Källman will join him in the qualifiers.

Topias also assessed the team's chances of making a deep run through the qualifiers:

If we win the open and regional qualifiers, then yes, I will play at TI. But our chances are very close to zero, you can round them down to zero. If we make it at least to the closed qualifiers, that would be fun.

Notably, most members of the prospective roster have already retired from professional play and only occasionally return to the competitive scene for select tournaments and qualifiers. Despite this, all players on the roster have also been included in their respective national team lineups for Esports Nations Cup 2026.

Ceb's most recent tournament appearance came at EPL Championship 1 in early 2026, where he played for Monkey Business alongside Topson, Pablo and N0tail. However, the team disbanded following an unsuccessful performance.

Artour Babaev has been focused on streaming for more than two years and has repeatedly stated that he does not plan to return to professional competition. Meanwhile, qojqva spends most of his time streaming and occasionally appears as an analyst on English-language broadcasts.

The open qualifiers for The International 2026 will take place from 09.06.2026 to 12.06.2026.

The main event will be held in Shanghai, China, from 13.08.2026 to 23.08.2026. The tournament's starting prize pool is set at $1,600,000. Seven directly invited teams will be joined by nine squads advancing through the closed qualifiers, which will run from 15.06.2026 to 28.06.2026.

Earlier, Cyberscore published the list of invited teams for TI15 as well as the regional slot distribution.