Nigma Galaxy eliminated from TI 2026 as BoomBoys march on

Nigma Galaxy's surprising run at The International 2026 has come to an end after BoomBoys defeated them 2-1, sending another fan favorite home with a top-six finish.

The third day of the Main Event began with six teams still standing after two marathon days of Dota in Shanghai. Both Thursday and Friday stretched beyond 14 hours, with games continuing well past midnight local time.

Saturday opened with Team Spirit making quick work of Team Liquid in a 2-0 sweep, leaving Nigma and BoomBoys next to fight for their tournament lives.

For Nigma, a run that had already exceeded plenty of expectations now came down to one best-of-three.

BoomBoys 2:1 Nigma Galaxy

BoomBoys wait for their moment in Game 1

BoomBoys entered Game 1 looking to play at a faster tempo and put pressure on Nigma's lanes, with the draft delivering an intriguing Huskar mid matchup against Shadow Fiend. But the Huskar never really managed to establish the game Nigma might have envisioned. Instead, very little separated the teams for around 30 minutes. Neither had managed to truly break the game open, and both remained well positioned to take control if given the opportunity.

But BoomBoys were simply waiting for their items and once they arrived, everything changed.

Their timings came together almost at once and a game that had spent half an hour delicately balanced suddenly swung heavily in their direction. BoomBoys accelerated, took control and quickly turned their patience into a dominant finish.

Nigma were one game away from elimination.

Nigma refuse to go quietly in Game 2

With their tournament lives on the line, Nigma looked considerably sharper in Game 2. BoomBoys had drafted a lineup that looked frustratingly difficult to kill, but Nigma made sure they had enough damage to answer it. And then they made that damage count.

For the second game in a row, one team seemed almost unable to make anything happen. This time it was BoomBoys. Nigma continually found their pickoffs, setting them up beautifully and applying pressure across the map. Everything that had been missing from their opening game suddenly seemed to click into place.

Omar "OmaR" Moughrabi's Shadow Shaman was particularly influential, helping create opportunities that Nigma consistently converted.

One dominant game answered another, and the elimination series was pushed to a deciding third map.

Nigma's draft never gets moving in Game 3

For Game 3, BoomBoys turned to Naga Siren and Slark, while Nigma brought out Leshrac for Sumail "SumaiL" Hassan for the first time at TI 2026.

The idea appeared to be increasing the pace and bringing considerably more aggression into the deciding game. Instead, Nigma struggled to get started. Their draft relied heavily on Ember Spirit to initiate and bring their fights together, but he needed time to come online. Trying to force things without him created inconsistent engagements and left Nigma unable to establish the tempo they had drafted for.

BoomBoys' Slark only made the problem worse. The pick did exactly what they needed it to do, limiting Ember Spirit's ability to find his game and leaving Nigma increasingly starved of ways to make things happen. Rather than accelerating, Nigma stalled.

Around 28 minutes, a disastrous fight around the pit crushed what little room Nigma had left to recover. BoomBoys took control and Nigma's game effectively collapsed around them. For a painfully long stretch, Nigma remained stuck on just four kills. There were no pickoffs to create an opening. No fights that could swing the game. No miraculous comeback waiting around the corner. Then finally, BoomBoys closed the door.

Nigma's surprising TI run ends in the top six

Nigma leave Shanghai with a top-six finish and a TI run that became one of the more pleasant surprises of the tournament. They fought through the Group Stage, survived the Elimination Round and then opened their Main Event by knocking defending champions Team Falcons into the Lower Bracket.

Their own Lower Bracket run, however, ends against BoomBoys.

It also brings another International to a close for SumaiL, with the high probability that it could prove to be his last. If so, the former TI champion leaves this one having helped take Nigma considerably deeper than many expected.

BoomBoys now continue their own remarkable run through the Lower Bracket, but there will be little time to celebrate.

Attention first turns to the Upper Bracket Final between TEAM VISION and Team Yandex, where the winner will become the first team to secure a place in Sunday's Grand Final.

Then BoomBoys return to the stage where Team Spirit is waiting in another elimination series, with only one of them surviving to play on the final day of The International 2026.