TI 2026 Group Stage Begins: European Teams Lead with Undefeated Record

The group stage of The International 2026 (TI 2026) officially began on August 13th. 16 of the world's top teams will compete in five rounds of Swiss-system tournament (BO3) for a chance to advance.

The top three teams from the group stage advance directly to the upper bracket of the main event, teams ranked 4th through 13th enter the knockout stage, and the bottom three are eliminated. On the first day of competition, European teams demonstrated overwhelming dominance, maintaining a perfect record against teams from other regions.

Eastern European teams TEAM VISION (PARIVISION) and BoomBoys (BetBoom Team) both secured two consecutive wins, advancing to the third round with a 2-0 record. Defending champions Team Falcons, South American LGD Gaming, Western European Iron Wing, and Nigma Galaxy all finished the first day of competition with a 1-1 record.

In contrast, the Chinese teams playing on home soil had a difficult start. Xtreme Gaming and Vici Gaming were swept by Team Spirit and Team Liquid respectively; Team Resilience managed to snatch one game from the championship favorites TEAM VISION, but still lost 1-2.

In the second round of the 0-1 group, the battle was extremely intense, with LGD and Resilience fighting for three games in a total match lasting 212 minutes. In the end, LGD reversed the score and defeated Resilience 2-1. Resilience and the Southeast Asian team OG suffered two consecutive losses and dropped into the 0-2 group.

In the highly anticipated match of the 1-0 bracket, TEAM VISION battled Falcons for three games, ultimately winning the longest single game of TI 2026 at 94 minutes, and securing a 2-0 upper bracket spot.

Image source: Internet