Team Resilience bows out of The International 2026 at the hands of Team Spirit

With The International 2026 being held in Shanghai, China, the regional teams were definitely not showing up. Xtreme Gaming’s fall during the Group Stage may have come as a shock, but they were swiftly followed by Vici Gaming in the elimination round. One final hope remained for the region, with Team Resilience looking to keep the flame alive.

But, going up against Team Spirit was never going to be an easy task, as the last bastion of CN Dota 2 fell at TI 2026.

Team Spirit survive a scare

Illya “Yatoro” Mulyarchuk’s unkillable Lifestealer was at the forefront of Spirit’s Game 1 dominance. Even so, there was no sign of life from their opponents as it took only 30-minutes for a winner to be found. But, as their name implies, it was time for the resilience to show. Game 2 was near perfect from the CN team, from draft to execution, they managed to shut down Spirit at every turn.

Having picked their opponent, Spirit now faced what could be elimination if they were unable to find a better final game. However, they did exactly that. With a strong draft, featuring a Terrorblade for Yatoro, Spirit controlled the entire game, finding pickoffs constantly, and building up to their final siege.

Once it came, TR stood no chance, as they eventually threw in the towel and accepted defeat.

With that, no Chinese teams remained at TI 2026, with all now being eliminated. For Spirit, they will survive a slightly troubling series and move forward into the playoffs, ready to fight for the Aegis of Champions.