Dota 2’s biggest stage is live in Shanghai. The International 2026, or TI15 as fans have dubbed it, kicked off on August 13, and has already delivered the storylines that make Valve’s flagship tournament one of the most-watched annual events in esports: a stacked field of competitors, a last-minute scandal that reshuffled a roster days before the opening match, and a group stage that is currently grinding through its final day.
Key Takeaways
- The International 2026, or TI15, showcases a stacked competition in Shanghai, starting on August 13, 2026.
- This edition features a new format where the top 3 teams advance directly to the Main Event, and the prize pool has grown to $3 million.
- Reigning champions Team Falcons aim to become a two-time champion, facing strong contenders like Team Spirit and Team Liquid.
- A scandal erupted before TI15 due to mid laner TaiLung’s ban, leading to a last-minute roster change for LGD Gaming.
- The group stage concludes on August 15, 2026, and the playoffs begin on August 20, culminating in the Grand Finals on August 23.
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A Championship Back on Familiar Ground
It’s the 15th edition of The International, and the tournament is back in Shanghai for the first time in seven years, last hosting Dota 2’s flagship tournament in 2019. Sixteen teams are battling it out in a two-stage format, kicking off with a Swiss-system group stage from August 13–16, and concluding with a Main Event at the Oriental Sports Center from August 20–23, where the playoffs and Grand Finals will be contested in front of a live audience.
Valve has changed the competition format for this year’s event. After the Swiss rounds, the top 3 teams advance directly to the Main Event, and teams in 4th through 13th place go into an Elimination Round for another chance. The bottom three teams are entirely out of the tournament. The top three will advance to the double-elimination playoff bracket, while five other teams will fight their way out of the Elimination Round.
The prize pool is down from the glory days of the tournament, but still way up from where it began. TI15 began with a $1.6 million prize pool, and 30 percent of all supporter bundle sales were added to the pot. This week, that total has now reached $3 million, continuing a tradition that saw The International become the first esports event to offer a crowdfunded, community-driven prize pool when it launched in 2011.
Falcons Looking To Repeat And To Make History
Team Falcons are the reigning champions of last year’s tournament and they enter Shanghai as one of the clear favorites of the field. A win this year would make the organization just the fourth two-time TI champion in the history of the event, joining OG, Team Spirit and Team Liquid. The stakes for individual players are even higher: Falcon’s coach Kurtis “Aui_2000” Ling is looking for his fourth Aegis of Champions overall and third as a coach, while support Wu “Sneyking” Jingjun and carry Oliver “Skiter” Lepko are both looking to become the first players ever to lift the Aegis three times, potentially cementing Falcon’s as the best The International Dota 2 team ever.
The Falcons aren’t the only heavy in the bracket. Team Spirit, Team Liquid, TEAM VISION (formerly PARIVISION), Iron Wing – the roster built around the old Tundra Esports core after a 1win Team acquisition – and Aurora Gaming all enter as legitimate title contenders, making this one of the more open fields in recent TI history.
Scandal Days Before The International Opening Match
The lead-up to the tournament was marred by one of the more unusual controversies in its history. Just days before the event kicked off on Aug. 9, LGD Gaming announced its 17-year-old mid laner, Santiago “TaiLung” Agüero Gustavo, had been banned from competing at TI15 following an internal investigation into what the organization described as a competitive integrity violation. PGL, the tournament organizer, took it a step further by banning him from all its current and future events for life. TaiLung’s ban has brought back memories for fellow Starcraft 2 fans, which is reminiscent of Life’s match fixing ban.
LGD and PGL have not publicly stated what specific actions caused the ban, but the term “competitive integrity” and reactions from individuals across the scene have largely been seen as indicating allegations of match-fixing. Peruvian prospect TaiLung, who caught the eye with his performances at BLAST Slam and the Esports World Cup earlier this year, spoke out publicly briefly but refused to comment on the specifics, respecting the ongoing process. Liquipedia reports he mentioned he plans to seek legal counsel and The International will continue without him.
The ban forced LGD to scramble for an emergency replacement with the world championship just days away. In a surprise move that instantly became one of the storylines of the tournament before a game had even been played, Shanghai used a special roster change approved by the tournament organizers to bring two-time TI champion Topson out of retirement to fill their mid lane. Topson is looking to lift his 3rd Aegis, and many Topson and LGD fans watching are hoping for the same.
The Group Stage Grinds to a Close
The Swiss-system group stage hits its third and final day on August 15, with matches that will decide which teams clinch direct Main Event berths, which go into the Elimination Round and which are sent home before the playoffs even start. Recent results include Nigma Galaxy’s upset of reigning-champion contender Team Spirit, which shows just how unsettled the standings are as the final round of matches approaches. Prior to the tournament, many had Nigma Galaxy as a dark horse and underdog in The International.
The scale of the event has been reflected in viewership. Data from Esports Charts tracking showed that the tournament had over 800,000 concurrent viewers on its opening day, part of nearly 18.7 million cumulative hours watched so far across the group stage — numbers that comfortably put TI15 among the most-watched Dota 2 events of the year.
What’s next in The International
With the group stage now in the books, the next step is the Elimination Round, which will narrow the field to the eight teams that will join the top three Swiss finishers in the Main Event bracket. The double-elimination playoffs begin on August 20 at the Oriental Sports Center, concluding with the Grand Finals on August 23, where a single roster will hoist the Aegis of Champions before a live Shanghai audience and claim the title of Dota 2 world champion for 2026.
The dust is still settling from the TaiLung ban and all eyes will be on whether Team Falcons can become the tournament’s newest two-time The International champion. The next nine days are shaping up to be some of the most closely watched in recent TI history.
