Lawrence is a freelance feature editor for Esports Insider, bringing over six years of experience as a content writer, game tester, and consultant. While he can spend all day watching the numbers go up in MMORPGs, he loves overanalyzing pro play in every tournament. Lawrence doesn't play one game forever and (poorly) tries to balance playing competitive MOBAs, shooters, and TCGs all at once.
Chadley Kemp (preferably just "Chad") has nearly a decade of editorial experience spanning esports, gaming, crypto, and betting content, covering everything from Counter-Strike and VALORANT to League of Legends and Dota 2. Outside of esports, Chadley holds a Ph.D. in Physiology and has published research in several peer-reviewed scientific journals.
Image credit: Dota 2 / Valve The International 2026 (TI 2026) has already delivered plenty of surprises, cutting the field down to the final eight teams after an unpredictable group stage and elimination round.
Even though some of my earlier TI 2026 predictions didn’t pan out, I still finished in the 91st percentile – so I’m taking another shot at ranking the remaining Dota 2 teams based on their latest form, individual performance, head-to-head records, bracket position, and a little good ol’ fashioned hopium .
You can refer to my prediction bracket for the TI 2026 main event to see my calls from the opening matches through the grand final.
While these picks are primarily based on the stats and research outlined in the sections that follow, they also include some personal biases, such as choosing Nigma Galaxy over Team Vision — controversial, I know. That said, I strongly encourage you to do your own research to inform your own choices.
Image credit: Lawrence Serafico for Esports Insider #1. Team Vision (PARIVISION) Team Vision has been the most convincing team at TI 2026 so far, finishing the group stage as the only 4–0 team with an 8–2 map record. More impressively, three of those series were against teams that also reached the main event, namely Team Falcons, BoomBoys (BetBoom Team), and Team Spirit.
Vision posted a flawless 3–0 record across those matchups and 6–1 in maps, triumphing in a lengthy 94-minute game with 56 kills against Team Falcons. More importantly, that run is part of a much longer hot streak after Vision went 16–3 at the Esports World Cup (EWC 2026), where they ultimately lifted the trophy.
Alan ‘ Satanic ’ Gallyamov has produced some of the strongest numbers at TI.
He currently leads the tournament in average GPM (938), XPM (1,049), kills (14.10), and KDA (17.20). Those numbers are even better than his already godlike performance at EWC 2026, where he averaged a 7.75 KDA across 19 maps.
However, the team isn’t entirely reliant on Satanic. EWC MVP Evgeniy ‘ Noticed ’ Ignatenko also posted equally impressive stats, ranking second in both average assists (20.10) and KDA (12.04).
Against other teams competing at TI 2026, Vision has the clearest path to the grand final.
In 2026, Vision dominated BoomBoys with a 5–1 record, including a 3–1 victory in the EWC 2026 grand final and a 2–0 sweep in the TI 2026 group stage. Vision’s head-to-head record against the main event teams on Patch 7.41 is currently 19-3-1, with losses only to Falcons, Yandex, and Spirit. Their map record is also an astounding 77–25 (75.5% win rate).
Needless to say, Team Vision’s raw individual performances are more than enough to take them to the grand final and give them the best shot at claiming the Ae…