Dog wins the 2026 Classic Tetris World Championship, becoming a 3-Time Tetris World Champion. He became the second player to ever win the World Championship three times, with Jonas Neubauer being the first player to do so.
He has previously won the Classic Tetris World Championship (CTWC) in 2020 and 2021, when the tournament happened online due to the Covid-19 Pandemic. He had also won those tournaments using the hypertapping technique.
When the Rolling technique became publicly known in early 2021, players were practicing it and using the technique at the 2021 CTWC. Although Dog had managed to defeat a roller in the finals to win that tournament, he knew he would have to master the new playstyle if he wanted to continue to dominate in these competitions.
Eventually Dog mastered the rolling technique and used the technique at his first in-person CTWC in 2022, where he finished in the Semifinals. He returned to compete at the 2023 CTWC where he finished in the Semifinals again.
At the 2024 CTWC, he made it to the Finals and lost to Alex T in a Game 5 decider to finish in second place.
When CTWC returned to an in-person tournament in 2022, many players had been dominating the tournament with the Rolling technique. Dog showed he was a formidable player in the Rolling era, having finished at least in the Top 4 in every tournament he has participated in.
In October 2024, he had become the first player to achieve Rebirth, where the Level resets back to Level 0 after a player completes Level 255.
At the 2025 CTWC, Dog had an early elimination, losing in the Top 16 in a Game 5 decider against Tristop.
Dog’s Journey at the 2026 Classic Tetris World Championship
Dog qualified for the 2026 Classic Tetris World Championship as the #5 seed, this was under a new qualifying format that better reflected the skill level required to become a Tetris World Champion.
As one of the Top 16 seeds, he had a bye to Round 1 (Top 32). He swept 10-year old Tetris prodigy, Zrobot in Round 1. From there, Dog went on to defeat last year’s Semifinalist, iBall, in Round 2 to advance to the Quarterfinals.
Dog faced 2023 CTWC Runner-up, Sidnev, in the Quarterfinals. Sidnev won the first 2 games, but Dog won the next 2 games to push the match to a decider. In an intense Game 5, Sidnev had a messy board going into Level 29 causing her to top out. Dog lined it out on Level 29 Killscreen to win the game and overcome the 2-0 deficit. You can tell the match was intense when Sidnev was devastated about that lost.
An Easy Semifinals Win?
In the Semifinals, Dog faced Alex T in a rematch from the 2024 CTWC Finals. This was the first time 2 Tetris World Champions faced each other in a CTWC match, it was going to be an exciting match. When I was sitting in the front row for this match, someone from backstage approached us in the audience asking if any of us knew a doctor that was at the venue. None of us knew a doctor in the venue that could treat Alex T’s wrist pain that he had been dealing with since Round 1. He had managed the pain, but the wrist pain was getting worse going into the Semifinals.
Despite the wrist pain getting worse, Alex T managed to win the first game. And then Dog won Game 2. In Game 3, Alex T had an early topout due to the wrist pain. After that, Alex T went backstage to give himself some rest and figure out what to do with the wrist pain. A few minutes had past before Alex T had decided to forfeit the match. With that, Dog automatically wins the match and advances to the Finals.
Finals: Dog vs Meme
The finals was between Dog and Meme. Both players reached the Level 39 Super Killscreen in the first game. Dog won that game with a 1 Tetris lead.
In Game 2, Meme reached the Level 39 Super Killscreen with about a 3 Tetris lead. Dog was still playing and had 20 lines left before reaching Level 39. He needed to play aggressively to have a chance at winning the game. He scored 2 Tetrises, but his board got messy and he didn’t have enough lines to burn to set up for another Tetris. Dog reached Level 39 Super Killscreen with a 1 Tetris deficit. Meme wins Game 2 and ties the match, 1-1.
Dog and Meme alternating wins between Games 3 and 4 to push the match to a Game 5 Decider. In Game 5, Dog had a lead going into Level 29 Killscreen. Meme overtook the lead on Level 35, only the topout on Level 37. Dog gets another Tetris to beat Meme’s score and win the game to become the 2026 Tetris World Champion.
This would be Dog’s first time winning an in-person CTWC, as his previous 2 wins happened during the online years. This is also Dog’s first time winning CTWC with the Rolling technique.
During the victory interview, Dog said that he was planning to make this his last CTWC appearance and came in with no expectations on how far he would make it in this competition. He later mentioned that he might return for next year’s CTWC.
Check out all of the 2026 CTWC matches here.
