Team Yandex and TEAM Vision advanced on Friday to the upper-bracket final at The International 2026 in Shanghai.
TEAM VISION bumped Team Spirit to the lower-bracket quarterfinals with a 2-1 decision in the semifinals, while Team Yandex won by the same score against Nigma Galaxy. Team Yandex and TEAM VISION will compete in the upper-bracket final on Saturday.
In the first round of the lower bracket, BoomBoys downed Iron Wing 2-1 late Thursday, and Team Liquid edged Team Falcons 2-1 on Friday.
Sixteen teams began the 15th annual Dota 2 tournament on Aug. 13. The crowd-funded prize pool has a base of $1.6 million and a current value of more than $3.2 million. Eight teams made the double-elimination playoff bracket, with all matches best-of-three until Sunday’s best-of-five grand final.
In the upper-bracket semifinals, TEAM VISION opened with a win in 43 minutes on green before Team Spirit drew level with a 29-minute victory on green. TEAM VISION won the deciding map in 47 minutes on red.
Alan “Satanic” Gallamov of Russia paced TEAM VISION with a combined 30-6-20 kill-death-assist ratio.
Nigma Galaxy notched a 75-minute win on red before Team Yandex played on red and claimed victories in 45 and 61 minutes for the match.
Ilya “CHIRA_JUNIOR” Chirtsov of Russia led Team Yandex with a 32-16-68 K-D-A ratio.
In lower-bracket Round 1, BoomBoys dropped the opening map in 39 minutes to Iron Wing (on red), then surged with wins in 48 and 42 minutes, also on green.
Danil “gpk” Skutin of Russia led BoomBoys with a combined 27-3-25 K-D-A ratio.
Team Liquid yielded a 55-minute loss to Team Falcons, which was on red, then played on red and won in 34 and 42 minutes to take the match.
Michael “miCKe” Vu of Sweden led Team Liquid with a 24-13-36 K-D-A ratio.
Saturday’s playoff schedule:
Upper bracket finals:
–TEAM VISIION vs. Team Yandex
Lower-bracket quarterfinals:
–Nigma Galaxy vs. BoomBoys
–Team Spirit vs. Team Liquid (late Friday)
The current $3.2 million prize pool:
1 TBD, $1.38 million
2. TBD, $423,353
3. TBD, $293,009
4. TBD, $195,384
5-6. TBD, $162,798
7-8. Iron Wing, Team Falcons, $130,212
9-13. Vici Gaming, Aurora Gaming, Team Resilience, GamerLegion, LGD Gaming, $58,549
14-15. OG, Xtreme Gaming, $32,586
16. HULIGANI, $16,293
–Field Level Media