Team Spirit won The International 2026 on Sunday, beating TEAM VISION 3-2 at the Oriental Sports Center in Shanghai to take a third Aegis of Champions. According to Dot Esports, no organization had previously won Dota 2’s annual world championship more than twice.
The result also reset several individual records. Illya “Yatoro” Mulyarchuk and Magomed “Collapse” Khalilov became the first players to win three Internationals, doing so across six appearances. Yaroslav “Miposhka” Naidenov reached three titles by a different route, winning two as a player and this year’s as a coach. Denis “Larl” Sigitov now has two, while Alexandr “rue” Filin won his first at his second International and Alexey “not_me” Kosmynin won at his first attempt.
How the grand final unfolded
Spirit took the opening game in just over 46 minutes, with Yatoro recording a rampage on Shadow Fiend and finishing on 16 kills and seven assists for a single death. TEAM VISION levelled the series in a 64-minute second game built around Yevgeniy “Noticed” Ignatenko’s Underlord, who closed on a 14-6-25 line while Alan “Satanic” Gallyamov worked down Spirit’s structures on Lifestealer.
Game 3 went back to Spirit in under 46 minutes, Yatoro’s Terrorblade outpacing Satanic’s own Shadow Fiend after a decisive clash in the 38th minute. VISION then forced a decider by winning Game 4 in 44 minutes, with Noticed keeping a perfect record on Doom across five games at the tournament and using the ultimate to cut Collapse’s Centaur Warrunner out of fights before he could save Yatoro’s Templar Assassin.
The decider ran 64 minutes. Satanic reached for Juggernaut, a hero associated with Wang “Ame” Chunyu’s defeat in the previous year’s final, and VISION started the stronger side. Spirit turned it on a 29th-minute pickoff that gave them Roshan and an Aegis for Yatoro’s Lifestealer, then again in the 38th when Collapse’s Lotus Orb reflected Omnislash back at Juggernaut and rue’s Bane locked Satanic down. VISION answered twice in the closing 20 minutes before Spirit broke through in the 58th, taking both Satanic and Noticed and stripping the middle and ranged barracks. A Nightmare save from rue kept Yatoro alive through the final fight in the 64th minute, and VISION called the game with several heroes down and no buybacks.
TEAM VISION finish as runners-up a year after placing third, leaving mid laner Volodymyr “No[o]ne-” Minenko still without an Aegis since entering the professional scene in 2014. Dot Esports reported more than 500,000 concurrent viewers watched the grand final across Twitch and YouTube.