Strafe's International 2026 Fantasy Guide

The International 2026 will award prizes to the best-performing predictions in the Compendium, and our Fantasy Guide will try to explain, in a simple manner, how to get the most out of your rolls to reach the highest percentiles.

Let's take a look at the best stats, the best roll tokens, and the best opportunities to boost your gains. This is a relatively subjective topic, so feel free to disagree and help other players in the comments!

Player Picks: Best Performers

Player picks in Fantasy are separated into three categories: cores, midlaners, and supports. These picks should align with your expectations for the teams that have the best chances of performing well during the tournament.

I decided to pick a broader variety of players from different teams to cast a wide net during the Group Stage, but if you're confident that TEAM VISION will perform well across the board, you can pick a full VISION lineup as well.

Banners: Focus on Most Recurrent Statuses

My personal rule for banners is to focus on the most recurrent stats for each color and improve them using the roll token that upgrades two stats and downgrades one, or the random upgrade tokens.

Red Flags

Red Flags are focused on cores and have a lot of good options. I focused on Creep Score and Deaths because the chaos gods were not generous with my rolls and somehow managed to juice my Creep Score flag all the way to Tier V.

Blue Flags

Blue Flags are for supports, and the best options are Watchers and Wards, as they tend to get the most recurring activations. I did not have too much luck on that front, so I upgraded Runes for my midlaner and support duo instead.

Green Flags

The only really good stat among the Green Flags is Teamfight, and it is relatively easy to get. Once you manage to roll it on all your players, avoid using rerolls that affect Green Flags and upgrade them as much as you can.

Roll Tokens: Some Important Tips

• Roll tokens are the only way to upgrade your banners, but life is never that easy, and most of the time you will draw rolls that affect more than one flag at once.

  My four rules for upgrading are pretty straightforward, and it's nice to know them beforehand:

  • Focus on getting Teamfight on all of your Green Flags first.
  • Try to get as many Watchers and Wards as you can on your Blue Flags.
  • Red Flags have the most abundant pool of options. GPM, Creep Score, and Deaths are the optimal stats, but you can settle for Kills and Towers if you want to avoid rerolling good stats on your other banners.
  • Always upgrade when given the chance, but remember that upgrading above Tier V sends your flag back to Tier I.

Player Title: Check Our Meta Recaps

The Player Title also gives you a boost to your point earnings by combining a prefix and a suffix. Prefixes award a set amount of extra points based either on hero colors or hero characteristics, as demonstrated in the image below.

Suffixes focus on unpredictable factors during matches, such as dying to a Tormentor, the timing of First Blood, or other specific in-game events.

I took a half-cautious, half-greedy approach by picking the Emerald Prefix based on Hoodwink's recent domination in our meta recaps and the Cruel Suffix while betting on a few fountain dives and kills.

Closing Thoughts

There are lots of approaches to Fantasy builds, but I believe mine is a pretty conservative one that should fit most players who want some quick tips without having to think too much about it.

If you want to stay informed about our The International 2026 coverage and the eventual roster changes for the new season, remember to check the news section on the Strafe website!

READ MORE: How To Quickly Gain MMR In Dota 2

Featured Image Source: Dota 2