As the new Dota 2 year finally begins, Team Spirit has announced an exciting, yet surprising news as the team revealed the return of its iconic team members for the 2025 roster. Carry player Illya “yatoro” Mulyarchuk, offlaner Magomed “Collapse” Khalilov, and coach Airat “Silent” Gaziev all make a stunning return to the big stage after officially rejoining Spirit’s lineup.

It can be remembered that all three members took a break from competitive play in the aftermath of The International 2024, where Team Spirit fell short and finished 9th-12th in the final rankings of the competition. It has been quite a roller coaster ride for the team over the previous year, and it does seem that having back their former stars will be a great help for a resurgent 2025 campaign.

The return by Collapse and Silent were both expected as they planned the break until the start of the new year. In their absence, Abdimalik “Malik`” Sailau stepped in for the offlaner while Alexander “Accell” Litvinenko temporarily filled the role of coach. So far, it has been quite a surprise that Yatoro returned, however, and it means that Alan “Satanic” Gallyamov will be moving down to the substitute option instead.

Yatoro Slated for Immediate Impact

Yatoro’s return was marked by a lot of reception from long-time Team Spirit, as no one expected him to come back after that exit by the end of TI 13. Three months ago, it can be remembered that the young Ukrainian star said that he lost his motivation to play for the game and called it a time to go for an indefinite break.

In his stead, Spirit made it a quick move to bring in one of their best prodigies in Satanic, who would emerge as a standout and elite performer for the team. Still, there are many talks of having him as the next star carry for the squad, but Yatoro’s return also means that they will be needing to put Satanic on the bench instead, according to Dmitry “Korb3n” Belov, the manager of Team Spirit.

"Yatoro has also returned to us. He didn’t plan it, but it happened. Such a quick return of Yatoro was a surprise for us, and we had to make a hard choice. The choice was made in favor of a more experienced and mature player, in favor of a legend in the organization,” said Belov. “It’s a real shame to part with Satanic — he’s a unique player with youthful enthusiasm who was not given a chance to fully blossom because of Murphy’s Law and various circumstances."

A New Chapter Begins

With the roster re-arranged, it does seem that Team Spirit will be once again hyped as one of the favorites to look out for. After a lackluster 2024, many fans are now seeking to see more from Team Spirit as the team now hopes to bring bigger performances and deliver massive wins that slipped their hands in the previous year.

For now, the roster stands with a complete five-man rotation and a coach:

  1. Illya “yatoro” Mulyarchuk
  2. Denis “Larl” Sigitov
  3. Magomed “Collapse” Khalilov
  4. Aleksandr “rue” Filin
  5. Yaroslav “Miposhka” Naidenov
  6. Airat “Silent” Gaziev (coach)

This current roster seems formidable, and it does seem that they will have the chance to begin their games with a bang as they seek to bring bigger strides on DreamLeague and the coming tournaments on the schedule for the next set of weeks.