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Congratulations to Team Spirit, Grand Champions at The International 2026. After enduring a challenging year, Team Spirit regained their ultimate form just in time to take a five-game Grand Finals slugfest and claim the Aegis of Champions in Shanghai.Spirit's Group Stage started strong, with 2-0 victories over both Xtreme Gaming and Aurora Gaming.
Team Spirit took game one with ease, but Resilience rebounded to force a win-or-go-home game three. There, Team Resilience managed to keep pace for a while, until Spirit pulled away in the back half of the match to secure their spot at The International Main Event.The first obstacle at the arena would be the dangerous Iron Wing -- who'd already taken Group Stage series wins off three teams who'd reached the main stage.
It wouldn't matter. Team Spirit clipped Iron Wing to send them spiraling into the Lower Bracket and eventual elimination.The next series wouldn't net Spirit the same results. Team Vision, the foe that had already denied them an easy path to the Playoffs, was waiting for them once more. And the result was mostly the same -- Spirit lost. This time 1-2.
But that loss came to this same Team Spirit squad they were again facing, and now Team Spirit wouldn't concede even one game.Spirit flushed Liquid out of the tournament to begin an undefeated run through the Lower Bracket, next bouncing both BoomBoys and Team Yandex with 2-0 statements to reach the Grand Finals against -- who else -- Team Vision, the front-runners that had been blocking Spirit's path every step of the way.
The team that had stopped Spirit from skipping the elimination round. That had dropped them into the Lower Bracket to fight for their lives. The team that hadn't lost a single series in Shanghai... was now the one thing standing between Team Spirit and the Aegis of Champions.Game one was Team Spirit all the way.