Tundra were crowned ESL One Birmingham 2026 champions after a 3-1 Grand Final victory over Yandex, with Britain’s Matthew ‘Ari’ Walker winning in front of his home crowd.
The event was the first Arena LAN since The International 2025, with crowds enjoying the celebration of Dota 2 over the three-days at the bp pulse LIVE arena.
How the ESL One Birmingham 2026 Grand Final played out
Yandex took their momentum forward from the Lower Bracket final in Game 1, consistently catching Tundra off guard and out of position with Martin ‘Saksa’ Sazdov staring on Hoodwink.
Tundra desperately tried to bring life to their composition, but simply could not find the angle to create even an equal engagement as Alimzhan ‘watson’ Islambekov dispatched them on Muerta.
Game 2 felt that it was going to be the same, with Yandex quickly building a lead with Ilya ‘CHIRA_JUNIOR’ Chirtsov looking strong on Sand King.
But Tundra gradually and methodically fought back in the series, as Bozhidar ‘bzm’ Bogdanov came online as Storm Spirit.
From being ahead at 40 minutes, Yandex were helpless by 50 as Neta ’33’ Shapira once again showed that letting Largo through against him is a huge risk.
Game 3 saw Ivan ‘Pure’ Moskalenko ran it back on Monkey King, and severely punished Yandex for letting it through in a stellar performance.
Tundra ran Game 3 from start to finish. They were running on a clock, with Yandex’s game deliberately targeting the late game. In the end, they never got there after an 18/1/14 performance from bzm on Beast Master in mid.
The victory put Tundra only one win away from the trophy, with the Birmingham crowd willing Matthew ‘Ari’ Walker on.
The momentum was undeniable, as Tundra’s control of the game was complete as Ari once again stared on Tusk in a dominant Game 4 which saw them lift the trophy. Birmingham’s crowd was left elated, with Ari lifting the trophy on British soil.
You can discuss what that means for the Dota 2 scene on our Discord!
For more ESL One coverage, see our interview with Parivisions’ veteran legend, No[o]ne!
Darragh is an Esports Journalist for Insider Gaming specialising in Counter-Strike. He loves to explore how esports teams work, or why they very often do not.
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