Yatoro on Spirit at TI15: There are many strong teams here that are capable of winning the tournament. We will try to become one of them

Kerry Team Spirit Ilya Yatoro Mulyarchuk shared his opinion about the strength of the teams at The International 2026 in Dota 2. He noted that at this TI there are many opponents vying for the championship. Mulyarchuk spoke out in an interview on stage after defeating 1w Team in the first round of the playoffs.

[Question: “Who did you have more fun destroying 1w Team: Lone Druid or Shadow Fiend?”] Definitely in the first game [on Lone Druid]. [Question: "I'm surprised they didn't ban Lone Druid. Why do you think they let you take it?"] I think they just forgot about Lone Druid. They took Doom and decided it wasn't a problem. But it was our setup, so we were glad we were able to take Lone Druid. [Question: “A lot of people say this is the most competitive TI in history. Do you agree? Do you think absolutely any team can win?”] I think there are a lot of strong teams here that are capable of winning the tournament. We will try to become one of them.

The match between Spirit and 1w Team took place on the morning of August 20 - the meeting ended with a score of 2:0 in favor of the Yatoro team. On the first map, the eSports player played Lone Druid, finishing the game with statistics of 18/0/9 and breaking the opponent’s throne through a backdoor.

As a result, Spirit advanced to the second round of winners, where they will compete with the best of the pair PARIVISION - BETBOOM Team, and 1w will continue to perform in the lower bracket. You can follow the progress of TI15 in the report.

The International 2026 takes place in Shanghai, China from August 13 to 23. 16 teams are competing for more than $3.1 million - the prize pool continues to grow through sales of club bundles and caster sets.