A new Dota 2 EWC champion will be crowned, as title defenders Team Spirit fell at the hands of a formidable Team Yandex.

The opening series of the Dota 2 Esports World Cup (EWC) 2026 Playoffs ended in favour of tournament favourites Team Yandex, who knocked out defending champions Team Spirit in a convincing 2-0 sweep. With this victory, Team Yandex advance to the semifinals, where they will await the winner of PARIVISIONversus Rune Eaters Esports. 

Team Yandex are now guaranteed at least a Top 4 finish at the Dota 2 EWC, an expected outcome given their dominant form throughout the season. Beyond their numerous podium finishes, Team Yandex arrived at the event with a fresh BLAST Slam VII trophy in hand, claimed just a month prior–making them arguably the strongest team at the event.

Despite their status as favourites, Yandex’s victory over Spirit was no less impressive. Team Spirit entered the tournament carrying the prestige of defending champions, having swept Team Falcons 3-0 in the previous edition. While they had a less dominant showing throughout this season, Spirit have built a reputation for finding their peak form around this point of the year, leading many to expect another deep run or a successful title defence.

But as the result shows, Yandex were simply a step above, convincingly stopping Spirit short of their usual late-season resurgence. With TI champion Martin “Saksa” Sazdovat the helm, the team march forward into the final four of the Dota 2 EWC, looking poised to claim another trophy. 

Team Spirit, meanwhile, exit the Dota 2 EWC in 5th-8th place, earning US$70,000 in prize money. The team will be aiming to regroup before The International 2026 begins in August.

How Yandex defeated Spirit at the Dota 2 EWC Playoffs

The Playoff clash between Team Yandex and Team Spirit was a commanding display from the former, who seemed to read their opponent's every move.

In the opening game, Yandex built an early advantage after successfully invading Spirit's Wisdom Rune shrine at the seven-minute mark, leading to an Ultra Kill for Alimzhan “Watson” Islambekov's Nature's Prophet. The influx of gold gave Yandex a strong start, although Spirit gradually clawed their way back into the game by finding pick-offs across the map. They also secured an early Aegis for Illya “Yatoro” Mulyarchuk's Kez. In hindsight, Spirit did many things right and even held the lead in kills for much of the game.

However, when full-scale teamfights broke out, Yandex consistently came out on top. Their coordination was exceptional, allowing them to counter many attacks rapidly. The concoction of spells on Yandex proved overwhelming with the Tombstone from Arman “Malady” Orazbayev's Undying, disrupting area stuns from Dmitry “DM” Dorokhin's Centaur Warrunner, and heavy damage output from Nature's Prophet and Ilya “CHIRA_JUNIOR” Chirtsov's Ember Spirit. Team Spirit were overwhelmed and eventually tapped out at the 44-minute mark after another devastating team wipe inside their own base.

The second map followed a similar pattern. Although Spirit found a handful of favourable engagements–including an 11-minute skirmish in which Denis “Larl” Sigitov's Snapfirepocketed the biggest profit–the game proved especially difficult for Illya “Yatoro” Mulyarchuk. The carry struggled to keep up in farm and failed to convert several Chronospheres into meaningful kills. His problems were compounded by Martin “Saksa” Sazdov's Techies, whose well-timed Reactive Taser repeatedly disarmed him in crucial moments.

At 24 minutes, Spirit once again secured an Aegis after shutting down Yandex’s contest around the pit. However, as the first game had already shown, an Aegis was never enough to slow Yandex down. The team quickly bounced back by outplaying Spirit in a subsequent fight, securing a favourable trade and regaining control of the map. Their net worth advantage continued to climb and it began to look bleak for Spirit.

By the 46-minute mark, Yandex swiftly secured mega creeps and amassed a staggering 37,000 gold lead. Even with such a commanding advantage, they remained disciplined, using Smoke of Deceit to catch Spirit off guard inside their own base. The manoeuvre led to an easy pick-off on Magomed “Collapse” Khalilov’s Pangolier before Yandex wiped out the remaining enemies. With no heroes left to defend, Team Spirit conceded at 51 minutes.

A look at how Yandex and Spirit performed at the Dota 2 EWC

The result of the Team Yandex and Team Spirit clash reflected the performances of both teams during the Group Stage of the Dota 2 EWC.

Team Yandex secured an almost flawless run in Group D, dropping only a single map to OG–much to the surprise of many–and winning all the other matchups against 1w Team, LGD Gaming, Virtus.pro, and Inner Circlex Insanity, which firmly placed them at the top of the group. This earned them a direct path to the Playoffs, along with several days of rest away from the competition.

Meanwhile, Team Spirit endured a more challenging campaign in Group C. The team secured series victories over Team Nemesis, REKONIX, and Vici Gaming, but surprisingly dropped a map to underdogs MOUZ. Combined with another map loss against frontrunners PARIVISION, Spirit were forced to settle for second place, sending them into the Survival Stage. There, the team prevailed from a challenging matchup against Team Liquid which secured them a spot in the Playoffs.

How the Dota 2 EWC Playoffs is shaping up

The Dota 2 EWC Playoffs began with the final eight teams, comprising Group Stage leaders Nigma Galaxy, Team Yandex, Team Falcons, and PARIVISION, alongside Survival Stage winners BetBoom Team, Vici Gaming, Team Spirit, and Rune Eaters.

With Team Spirit now eliminated from the competition, Team Yandex become the first team to secure a spot in the semifinals. Later tonight, PARIVISION and Rune Eaters will battle for the chance to face Yandex in the next round.

Tomorrow, 17 July, will see Nigma Galaxy take on BetBoom Team, followed by a match between Team Falcons and Vici Gaming. The winners of both series will face each other in the semifinal round.

Semifinal winners will then progress to the Grand Finals, where they will clash in a best-of-five series on 19 July for the EWC glory and a lion's share of US$750,000 from the US$2 million prize pool. Before that, teams that lost their semifinal clash will compete in a third-place match to determine the tournament’s final standings.

What is the Dota 2 Esports World Cup?

The Dota 2 tournament at the Esports World Cup 2026 will be the last Tier 1 tournament of the 2025-2026 competitive Dota 2 season, before it culminates in The International 2026 in August. With many of the teams competing in the EWC also qualified for this year's Dota 2 world championship tournament, it should serve as a good preview for the battle for the Aegis of Champions next month.

The Dota 2 EWC features 24 of the best Dota 2 teams in the world and will take place from 7 to 19 July in the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles in Paris, France. The teams will be fighting for EWC glory and the lion's share of US$750,000, out of the tournament's US$25 million prize pool.

The Dota 2 EWC is split into three stages; the Group Stage from 7 to 12 July, the Survival Stage from 14 to 15 July, and the Playoffs from 16 to 19 July.  

The Group Stage will see the 24 teams split into four groups of six teams each to play in a single round-robin with best-of-two matches. The top team from each group will advance directly to the Playoffs, the second to fourth-placed teams will move to the Survival Stage, while the two bottom finishers will be among the first to be eliminated.

The Survival Stage will feature the 12 teams that finished third to fourth in their respective groups during the Group Stage, with four spots in the Playoffs up for grabs in a single-elimination bracket with best-of-three matches. The Survival Stage will open with the third and fourth seeds from different groups taking each other on, with the winners moving on to face the second place teams for the four Playoff spots.

Finally, the Playoffs will be a single-elimination bracket featuring the four teams that finished as the top seeds of their groups in the Group Stage, as well as the four teams that made it out of the Survival Stage. All matches in the Playoffs will be a best-of-three except for the grand finals, which will be a full best-of-five series.

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