Parivision overwhelming as expected, but Nigma Galaxy once again exceeded expectations.

Dreamleague season 26 ended the group stage 1 on Friday (May 23) with Parivision, Aurora Gaming and Nigma Galaxy leading the group of eight Dota 2 teams to overcome to enter the group stage 2.

Dreamleague season 26 has a total of 16 teams playing through two group stage and a playoffs of four teams, taking place from May 19 to June 1, to compete for a reward from a total prize of $ 1 million. This tournament is also the last opportunity for ESL Pro Tour (EPT) to win tickets directly to the World Cup (EWC World Cup (EWC) for DotA 2, which will take place in July with a total prize of $ 3 million.

The stage 1 of the Dreamleague 26 season divided 16 teams into two tables of eight teams in the format of the circle once, with the top four teams in each group in the group stage 2, and the remaining teams were eliminated.

Eight teams winning the second stage including Aurora, Nigma Galaxy, Betboom Team and Team Liquid from Group A, along with Parivision, Yakult Brothers, Talon Esports and Gainin Gladiators from Group B.

Meanwhile, Shopify Rebellion, Boom Esports, Xtreme Gaming, OG.Latam, Team Falcons, Navi Junior, Avulus and Edge cannot pass the group stage 1 and have been eliminated.

Active stage 1 Dreamleague season 26:

Aurora and Nigma Galaxy Lead Group A

Group A can be said to be the most difficult group of the group stage 1 and bring some of the most unexpected results so far, with Aurora and Nigma Galaxy leading the table with 10-4 records. Despite the same number of victories, Aurora won the number one seed thanks to 2-0 or 1-1 draw in the series, while Nigma Galaxy lost 0-2 against Liquid.

Nigma Galaxy continued to rise strongly with another impressive group stage performance, since Daniel Chan "Ghost" Kok Hong became the team's unofficial Mid Laner in the middle of February, because the "Miracle-" Al-Barkawi was still absent for health reasons. Although this is not the first time Nigma Galaxy plays well in the group stage this year, still have to wait to see if they keep this form when entering the playoffs round or not.

Betboom and Liquid completed the Top 4 of Group A, with a record of 8-6 despite having to play with the replacement players. Ilja "Kiritych" Uljanow replaced Ivan "Pure" Moscowko on the Betboom side, while Liquid played with Alik "V-Tune" Vorobey instead of Micke "Micke" Vu-who decided not to participate in this tournament.

Because both Betboom and Liquid are eligible to attend EWC 2025, these two teams are playing "with the house's money". Meanwhile, Aurora and Nigma Galaxy will find a way to promote strong start in the group stage 1 to win an EPT point for direct invitation tickets.

Parivision championship overwhelming Group B

In Group B, Parivision has the best achievement in all teams in the group stage 1 with 12 wins and 2 losses. With outstanding performance, Parivision is currently the brightest candidate for the Dreamleague 26 championship. As the first team ranked the EPT ranking, Parivision towards the third ESL title in the past year after the victories at ESL One Raleigh 2025 (April) and ESL One Bangkok 2024 (December last year).

The Chinese team Yakult Brothers suddenly won the second position in Group B with a record of 9-5. With Xtreme Gaming eliminated from Group A, Yakult Brothers is emerging as the leading candidate for the only Chinese representative to attend The International (TI) 2025 through the regional qualifying round in June.

The Southeast Asian Talon Esports ended right after Yakult Brothers with a record of 8-6, winning the number of three seeds in Group B, notably when they were one of the only two teams (along with Yakult Brothers) won a game against Parivision. With the return of Nuengnara "23savage" Teeramahanon from the beginning of the month, Talon is aiming to affirm the number one position in Southeast Asia before the TI 2025 qualifying round.

The final ticket to the group stage 2 is the competition between Gainin Gladiators and Team Falcons, when both ended with a record of 7-7. Because of the number of victories, draws and losses equal, a series of tiebreaker bo3 has been held. Despite losing the first game, Gainin Gladiators has come back to win 2-1 to become the last team to win the right to go on, and make the Falcons team eliminated from the second group stage this year.

The final ranking of the stage 1 Dreamleague season 26:

Table A

• Aurora Gaming: 10-4

• Nigma Galaxy: 10-4

• Betboom Team: 8-6

• Team Liquid: 8-6

• Shopify Rebellion: 7-7

• Xtreme Gaming: 5-9

• Boom esports: 5-9

• OG.Latam: 3-11

Table b

• Parivision: 12-2

• Yakult Brothers: 9-5

• Talon esports: 8-6

• Gainin Gladiators: 7-7

• Team Falcons: 7-7

• Navi Junior: 6-8

• Avulus: 4-10

• Edge: 3-11

The stage 2 of the Dreamleague 26 season will take place from 23 to 29 May, with eight teams overtaking to divide the round table for one round, the BO3 matches. The top two teams will enter the winning branch of the playoffs round, while the third and fourth team will have to start from the losing branch. The remaining four teams will be eliminated.