TI2026 BoomBoys: The War Horse

BetBoom Team, BoomBoys at The International 2026 due to China’s betting restrictions, arrive in Shanghai as the War Horse, a battle-hardened steed that has charged through the fiercest fights in Dota 2 and emerged bloodied but unbowed.

But a war horse is only as strong as the rider on its back, and after their fourth-place finish at TI2025, BetBoom Team chose to change riders. Ivan "Pure" Moskalenko, who had been instrumental in their success in the 2024-25 season, was moved to the inactive roster while coach Anatoly "Boolk" Ivanov took an extended break. In their place came Ilja "Kiritych" Uljanow, a former Virtus.pro player who reached Top 8 at The International 2023, while Roman "rmN-" Paley joined as an assistant coach, with a lot of Boolk’s responsibilities moved to the team captain's shoulders.

By January 2026, it became clear the system wasn't working as expected, and Boolk returned as head coach.

“At the beginning of the season, we decided to test a format of working without Boolk, making Save- the leader and captain, while rmN- served as an assistant,” BetBoom team manager Lukawa said at that time. ”Over time, it became clear that this system does not work the way we expected: it creates an unnecessary load on the player and distracts from other processes. Therefore, we decided to return to the previous work format.”

Boom Boys roster

• Ilya "Kiritych" Ulyanov
• Danil "gpk" Skutin
• Matvey "MieRo" Vasyunin
• Vitalie "Save-" Melnic
• Vladislav "Kataomi`" Semenov
• coach: Anatoly "Boolk" Ivanov

With Boolk back at the helm and Kiritych fully integrated, the War Horse found its stride on the 7.41 patch.

BoomBoys arrive in Shanghai as one of the teams with the most games played on the 7.41 gameplay update and a pretty strong win rate: 109 matches, 68.81% win rate.

When the patch dropped, during ESL One Birmingham, many of the teams competing in the tournament expressed their frustration at having to adapt overnight to a game without Facets and plenty of other impactful changes. BetBoom, however, despite ending up being eliminated on the day after the patch was released, were one of the few teams to have embraced it fully right from the start. "Every player on our team likes the changes,” MieRo said for the official broadcast back then.

BetBoom won the very next tournament, PGL Wallachia Season 8, placed third at BLAST Slam VII, which cemented their direct invite to TI2026, and are now heading to Shanghai as runners-up at EWC 2026.

MieRo put aside his signature Doom, Enigma or Lycan in favour of beefier frontliners and was the unbreakable wall for his team in Paris at EWC. His most played hero now is Largo, followed by BeastMaster, Axe, and Tidehunter.

Kiritych made Kez a top priority and is now sitting on a 77.27% win rate on the hero, with 22 games played on the 7.41 patch. He is one of the players who likes to show in fights earlier than what you would expect from a carry. Therefore, he has heroes in his pool suited for showing up in early skirmishes.

Over the past couple of days, he even played Io carry in official matches as BoomBoys are testing their ideas at the currently ongoing 1win Essence II online tourney. The last time someone dared to play an Io carry on the TI stage was in 2019, when Anathan "ana" Pham brought it for the first and only time in a competition of such high stakes. We all know how that ended.

Could Kiritych and BoomBoys prepare a tribute to Ana now that the TI is back in Shanghai?

Very possible, but the Io pick and the overall change in hero preferences with every letter balance update that came after the big 7.41 show that BoomBoys are adapting quickly to the battlefield, and that’s one of the traits that make them dangerous.

Redemption in Shanghai

For BetBoom, The International has always been the one that got away. A fourth-place finish last year in Hamburg was their best-ever result, but it also left a bitter taste. This year feels a bit different; the players seem reformed. Their in-game discipline and mental strength have improved a lot this season, so in theory, there's no better time to break through the glass ceiling than now.

Sixteen teams will arrive in Shanghai this August, each with their eyes fixed on the Aegis of Champions. The War Horse has been here before, but this time, he’s better equipped than ever.