The International 2026: Playoff Predictions

Forecasting the outcome of Dota 2’s signature event, The International, is never easy, but the upcoming tournament promises to feature one of the most unpredictable lineups in history.

Currently, no squad appears completely dominant. The reigning titleholders show flashes of brilliance mixed with instability, the previous tournament’s finalists have completely lost their footing, and a newly assembled roster of castaway players is surprisingly pegged as the favorite. At the same time, veteran Chinese competitors are gearing up to make a serious impact in front of their local fans.

Following a highly competitive season of close matchups, everything will be decided in Shanghai. Given how open the competition is, here are the eight Dota 2 squads I believe will excel at The International 2026 (TI15)—and with any luck, their success might unlock some custom terrain for the community!

With only eight main stage positions available, I have put together a ranked list of the rosters most likely to advance to the TI15 main event, taking into account their latest results, stability, lineup quality, and alignment with the current patch. Here is an overview:

Team Yandex stands out as one of the freshest organizations entering The International 2026, yet they look fully capable of capturing the Aegis of Champions.

The organization made its foray into the Dota 2 scene by purchasing Cyber Goose in June 2025, subsequently restructuring the lineup around Ilya ‘CHIRA_JUNIOR’ Chirtsov. The remaining four players were veterans discarded or benched by other organizations, but this group rapidly gelled to become the most reliable squad of the competitive year.

They claimed trophies at BLAST Slam VII and PGL Wallachia Season 7, secured a second-place finish at ESL One Birmingham, and most recently took third place at the Esports World Cup (EWC 2026), alongside several other top-four runs. Very few competitors have matched their steady output, rendering them a highly secure selection for TI15.

Even so, the primary obstacle they must overcome is Iron Wing (1Win). This ex-Tundra lineup has proven to be a persistent thorn in their side, knocking them out with a clean sweep at BLAST Slam V and defeating them 3–1 during the ESL One Birmingham grand finals. This tournament offers Martin ‘Saksa’ Sazdov an ideal opportunity to get even with his old TI11 championship-winning partner.

TEAM VISION arrives at TI15 riding a wave of momentum that is perhaps unmatched by any other competitor traveling to Shanghai.

Following their third-place finish at TI14, the roster went through a period of reorganization this season, bringing in legendary player Clement ‘Puppey’ Ivanov to serve as their head coach. Shortly after Dmitry ‘DM’ Dorokhin was moved to the bench to make room for Valery ‘SSS’ Lazarev, they further solidified the lineup by signing Evgeniy ‘Noticed’ Ignatenko.

These roster adjustments paid immediate dividends, as they went on to claim first-place finishes at DreamLeague Season 29 and 1win Essence I. Their commanding performance at EWC 2026 further highlighted their prowess, as all three core players hit their stride at the same time, with their newly added offlaner claiming the tournament’s MVP award.

The current gameplay patch also aligns perfectly with their playstyle heading into the event. In particular, Alan ‘Satanic’ Gallyamov’s preferred heroes like Drow Ranger, Kez, and Shadow Fiend remain highly prioritized, while Volodymyr ‘No[o]ne-’ Minenko can dictate the pace of the early game on mobile heroes like Earth Spirit and Ember Spirit.

In addition, Edgar ‘9Class’ Naltakyan continues to perform at an extraordinary level. Serving as the squad’s position four support, he frequently catches opponents off guard with unconventional hero selections while wreaking havoc across the map. Nevertheless, Yandex maintains a slight advantage in the overall rankings because of their superior stability across the entire year.

BoomBoys secured a respectable fourth place at TI14 but decided to shake things up by replacing their standout carry, Ivan ‘Pure’ Moskalenko, with Ilya ‘Kiritych’ Ulyanov, formerly of Virtus.pro.

At the time, this roster adjustment raised a few eyebrows and led to highly volatile results throughout the competitive year. Although the Eastern European squad enjoyed deep tournament runs, such as a second-place finish at FISSURE PLAYGROUND 2, they also suffered early exits, placing 7th–8th at DreamLeague Season 28 and finishing near the bottom at ESL One Birmingham.

Fortunately, the roster at last found its rhythm in the middle of 2026, capturing the trophy at PGL Wallachia Season 8 thanks to spectacular performances from their new carry and midlane star, Danil ‘gpk’ Skutin. The team registered an impressive 15–3 map record during the event, culminating in a dominant 3–0 sweep against Aurora in the grand finals.

They brought that peak performance into EWC 2026, battling their way to the grand finals for a showdown with Team Vision, though they were only able to secure a single map victory in that series. While they possess the raw talent to defeat any top-tier team, this roster is notorious for fragile team dynamics, and they have historically struggled to recover once things start going wrong in high-stakes matches.

Following a lackluster 9th–13th placement at TI14, Aurora Gaming spent a large portion of the season struggling simply to reach the playoff stages of major events.

They experimented with several lineup adjustments before finding the right balance, bringing in Rafli ‘Mikoto’ Fathur Rahman, Chung ‘Ws’ Wei Shen, and Oleh ‘kaori’ Medvedok to play alongside their established foundation of Egor ‘Nightfall’ Grigorenko and two-time TI champion Myroslav ‘Mira’ Kolpakov.

These bold roster decisions quickly yielded positive results, as the team secured back-to-back tournament victories, including a grueling five-game grand final victory over Team Spirit at FISSURE Universe: Episode 8. Following that success, they have regularly reached the final stages of premier competitions, securing second place on three separate occasions.

Despite a subpar showing at EWC 2026, where they were knocked out early by Rune Eaters to finish 9th–12th, they still have the necessary ingredients to put together a formidable run in Shanghai.

Team Falcons are heading to TI15 with the exact same five-man squad that hoisted the Aegis last season, though their path back has been marked by solid yet somewhat uninspiring play.

The reigning TI14 champions initially sustained their winning form after their dramatic triumph in Hamburg, taking first place at FISSURE PLAYGROUND 2 and claiming second at BLAST Slam IV just one week later.

Nonetheless, they struggled to make it back to a grand final in 2026 until the recent 1win Essence II tournament, where they took second place. Regardless of the current patch, this lineup is known for ignoring popular trends, preferring to draft around the specific comfort picks of their individual stars.

Their roster features highly flexible roles: mid player Stanislav ‘Malr1ne’ Potorak frequently runs utility or offlane-style heroes, while draft leader Ammar ‘ATF’ Al-Assaf opts for greedy offlaners who can transition into late-game carries like Slardar, Huskar, Doom, and Timbersaw, allowing Oliver ‘skiter’ Lepko to focus on active, tempo-controlling carries like Slark or Sven.

This setup puts elite support player Andreas ‘Cr1t-’ Nielsen in an excellent position for the tournament, especially since his signature heroes, Earth Spirit and Hoodwink, remain highly effective in the current competitive meta.

Among the most shocking developments of TI14 was the early departure of Team Spirit before the main stage, a stunning result for a roster featuring three players who have won the tournament twice.

Even after modifying their lineup, the squad has remained a common sight in the bracket stages of major events, though their performance has fluctuated wildly.

On their good days, they have reached the final stage to secure second-place finishes, as seen at DreamLeague Season 27 and PGL Wallachia Season 6. Conversely, on their off days, they have crashed out in the very first round of the brackets, which happened to them during EWC 2026 in Paris.

Even with these inconsistencies, their sheer pedigree makes them a safe bet to progress past the group stage at TI15.

Including Nigma Galaxy in this list is undoubtedly a high-risk prediction, but the current lineup is a far cry from the iteration that failed to find success after their 5th–6th placement at TI14.

The squad has been incredibly active in the lead-up to the Shanghai event, perpetually competing in tournaments and qualifiers, even if they didn’t always translate that effort into podium finishes. Their roster was finally locked in June, when star players Artem ‘lorenof’ Melnyk and Sumail ‘SumaiL’ Hassan took over for Tony “No!ob” Assaf and Denys ‘rincyq’ Bohushev.

This updated configuration showed massive potential at EWC 2026, dominating a highly competitive group featuring Liquid, Aurora, and PTime with an outstanding 9–1 map score, before eventually bowing out to BoomBoys in the brackets. On the other hand, they are still prone to sudden collapses, as seen by their disappointing 9th–10th placement at the subsequent 1win Essence II event.

The team has a long-standing reputation for being highly erratic, but the high ceiling of SumaiL and lorenof might provide the necessary spark to push them deep into the TI15 brackets.

Rounding out my top eight is Vici Gaming, a choice heavily influenced by their upward trajectory in recent weeks combined with the massive benefit of playing on home soil.

The present roster boasts an incredibly experienced group of Chinese veterans, featuring superstars like Zhao ‘XinQ’ Zixing alongside Zhang ‘Bach’ Ruida and Zhang ‘y`’ Yiping, who were key parts of one of the most dominant championship runs in the tournament’s history.

They began making waves on the global stage after earning a spot in the bracket stage of PGL Wallachia Season 7, which they followed up with a highly competitive showing at EWC 2026.

Following the disqualification of PTime from the lower bracket, Vici defeated Iron Wing 2–1 to advance to the final stage. There, they secured an impressive 2–0 victory over Falcons in the quarterfinals, before falling 0–2 to BoomBoys in the semifinals and subsequently losing the third-place decider 0–2 to Yandex. In the aftermath of that run, they have continued to make deep bracket appearances at both 1win Essence and Games of the Future.

While other contenders like Team Resilience and the TI14 silver-medalists Xtreme Gaming are serious candidates for a top-eight finish, Vici Gaming inspires more confidence because of their proven capability to challenge the world’s best on the international stage.

Excluding Team Liquid from the top tier was an incredibly tough call, particularly since the storied two-time championship organization has earned impressive victories recently, taking home trophies at 1win Essence II and BLAST Slam VI.

However, their primary downfall remains their extreme volatility, which saw them miss out on the bracket stages entirely at DreamLeague Season 29 and EWC 2026. While I still view Michał ‘Nisha’ Jankowski as the most skilled player mechanically at the event, and Samuel ‘Boxi’ Svahn is always capable of turning fights single-handedly, their unpredictable nature makes them hard to rely on for predictions.

Even so, Liquid’s inconsistency simply makes them difficult to trust with my predictions.

Bypassing Iron Wing (1win) was another agonizing decision, given that this roster possesses legitimate championship potential. They have already proven they can win at the highest level, taking titles at both ESL One Birmingham and DreamLeague Season 28.

Even so, they have looked somewhat out of practice recently, spending more time playing in regional qualifiers and secondary events rather than testing themselves against tier-one competition. Nonetheless, if there is a hidden strategy or game mechanic to exploit in the current patch, Neta ‘33’ Shapira is almost certain to discover it first.

Lastly, LGD was initially slated for a spot in my predicted top eight. However, their prospects suffered a devastating blow when their star midlaner, Santiago ‘TaiLung’ Agüero Gustavo, was issued a ban due to rules violations.

The ex-Heroic core is incredibly talented, but their entire strategic framework was designed around TaiLung’s unique playstyle. Although they have brought in a legendary stand-in in Topias ‘Topson’ Taavitsainen, his signature, unusual hero choices might not mesh seamlessly with the highly aggressive, skirmish-heavy approach the team usually relies on.

To sum up, the upcoming event features what might be the most unpredictable field of competitors in the long history of the tournament.

During the previous tournament, nearly all conventional wisdom was shattered when Xtreme Gaming defied expectations with a flawless group-stage run on their way to the grand finals. This sheer volatility is precisely why these assessments represent educated forecasts based on patch trends and current form rather than absolute certainties.

Rosters are likely holding back secret tactics for the main stage, an unexpected hero pick could completely swing a series, and psychological rivalries will undoubtedly play a role. Ultimately, this level of mystery is what makes Dota 2’s premier championship so captivating, and the event wouldn’t be half as exciting if the competitors in Shanghai didn’t threaten to tear up our brackets.