Staff Spirit has formally develop into the primary Dota 2 staff to have lifted the Aegis of Champions thrice, doing so at TI15 in Shanghai final week. Their conquest this time round was just a little more durable than their earlier one, as they needed to take down match favorites TEAM VISION 3-2 within the Grand Closing of the occasion.
This large win meant Illya “Yatoro” Mulyarchuk and Magomed “Collapse” Khalilov turned the primary three-time TI winners in historical past. Although each gamers did their justifiable share of labor, I feel Yatoro’s story all through the occasion was extra attention-grabbing to comply with, as he was instantly up in opposition to Alan “Satanic” Gallyamov, who was wanting like the perfect carry participant on the occasion.
The Grand Closing actually confirmed us an anime battle between the best carry in historical past and the best carry of right now – however are each of these titles nonetheless correct after the Aegis was lifted?
The best in historical past vs. the best of right now
Anybody who’s adopted the Dota 2 scene a few months earlier than TI would agree that TEAM VISION’s 18-year-old carry, Satanic, has been wanting just like the strongest carry participant on the earth.
Satanic’s identify has been hovering round as a top-tier carry for over a yr or so, however 2026 felt prefer it was lastly his yr. With the assistance of his newly-appointed coach Clement “Puppey” Ivanov, Satanic was placing on monstrous performances and farming at lightning speeds, carrying his staff to win the title at DreamLeague Season 29 and the latest Esports World Cup.
The teenager was clearly the speak of the city heading into TI15, and TEAM VISION additionally entered the occasion because the favorites to win all of it. When TI15 truly began, the hype wasn’t simply speak, as Satanic was breaking data left and proper, permitting TEAM VISION to steamroll the competitors and cruise via the Swiss Stage with a 4-0 document, additionally taking down Staff Spirit alongside the best way.
However, we had Yatoro, who confirmed as much as Shanghai with a reasonably completely different story. He already had two Aegises to his identify, however we haven’t actually seen the flashy Yatoro all of us knew this yr. Staff Spirit had a turbulent season, with their carry participant having fairly quiet performances main as much as the most important occasion of the yr.
Although Yatoro was nonetheless considered the best of all time, he actually felt like he was human this yr, and wasn’t one of many highest-rated carries earlier than TI15 began. Even the likes of Alimzhan “watson`” Islambekov and Ilya “Kiritych” Ulyanov regarded higher than him all year long.
Consequently, many followers and analysts had Staff Spirit written off this yr. Even neighborhood content material creator Dota2PowerPoints had them fairly low in his pre-event Power Rankings, and he wasn’t loopy – I didn’t count on Yatoro and firm to do properly both.
Yatoro faculties Satanic in TI15 Grand Closing
Lo and behold – this was the precise matchup we bought within the Grand Closing. TEAM VISION took the quickest path to the highest two, retaining their undefeated streak at TI and even took down Staff Spirit for the second time, sending them to the Decrease Bracket.
Staff Spirit needed to claw their approach via elimination match after elimination match, profitable three matches in a row, all 2-0 victories, to earn their rematch.
It’s additionally poetic that Satanic initially got here from Yellow Submarine – Staff Spirit’s pseudo academy roster, which is the place Yatoro began out his profession, too. The child even performed for Staff Spirit whereas Yatoro was taking a break for just a little bit.
Now, Staff Spirit needed to take down the monster they developed themselves for that third Aegis.
Sadly, we weren’t instantly handled to a Yatoro vs. Satanic showdown within the first recreation, as TEAM VISION was severely outdrafted. Satanic was pressured into an uncomfortable Ember Spirit decide, letting Spirit take the primary recreation.
The second recreation was actually the place we bought to see the 2 butt heads. Although they nonetheless misplaced the sport, we bought a glimpse of Yatoro’s outplay potential when the strain is highest, when he juked Satanic and the remainder of TEAM VISION.
Nonetheless, Satanic’s Lifestealer ended up being an excessive amount of to take care of, pushing the sequence right into a tied 1-1 affair.
Recreation 3 was once we noticed Yatoro again in his prime with probably the greatest Terrorblade performances I’ve seen shortly, with some clutch Sunders sprinkled in. His counterpart, Satanic, was additionally enjoying very well on Shadow Fiend, however Yatoro’s near-flawless 10/1/12 efficiency proved to be approach an excessive amount of.
At this level, TEAM VISION had its again in opposition to the wall, down 1-2 within the Better of 5 sequence. Many 18-year-olds would crack below strain, however Satanic nonetheless stood tall with one other sturdy efficiency on Lifestealer whereas Yatoro didn’t discover a lot impression on Templar Murderer. This pressured an all-important fifth recreation for all of the marbles.
In Recreation 5 of the TI finals, you’ll be able to’t count on anybody to play excellent Dota, as everybody might be shaking contained in the sales space. When the strain was at an all-time excessive, I consider this was the place Yatoro took the lead within the carry-to-carry showdown.
Satanic had an especially good begin on Juggernaut and was set as much as carry the sport for his staff. Nonetheless, he bought picked off alone on the 28-minute mark, throwing away his lead – this isn’t a loss of life I’d count on Satanic to usually feed off, however I assume the nerves actually bought to him.
It was an especially shut recreation that might have gone both approach, however Yatoro ended up popping out on prime – however with just a little assist from his teammates. Within the ultimate combat, the helps interfered between their duel, as Aleksandr “rue” Filin’s Nightmare that saved Yatoro within the ultimate combat.
Nonetheless, possibly Satanic additionally misplaced just a little focus close to the tip, as he walked right into a max-range Sacred Arrow which led to his dieback.
The GOAT is settled, however the perfect Carry proper now isn’t
In fact, Yatoro claimed the Aegis over Satanic this time round, however the debate on who’s the perfect carry this yr shouldn’t be settled based mostly on that.
It’s tempting to provide Satanic a cross on his Grand Closing efficiency right here – TI15 was his first TI Closing look, and the child is barely 18 years previous. Nonetheless, that argument doesn’t actually maintain up in opposition to Yatoro, who additionally received his personal TI debut at the very same age at TI10.
Nonetheless, there’s an actual distinction between the 2 occasions – Satanic is enjoying in a sold-out Shanghai area, with 18,000 followers screaming always, whereas Yatoro’s coronation occurred in an empty stadium because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic that yr.
Nicely, if we’re speaking GOAT, this comparability between the 2 isn’t even shut – Yatoro already had two Aegises earlier than the match began, and now he has three over Satanic. This shouldn’t even be a dialog, as Yatoro is certainly the best carry of all time.
However, “biggest of all time” and “greatest carry of the yr” are two various things, and I’d truly give the second to Satanic. He has been extra constant this complete season and in addition received extra trophies than Yatoro.
Satanic didn’t even play badly at TI, he was diffing everybody (together with Yatoro, twice), till the Grand Closing. He simply misplaced one recreation, which occurs to be the one which mattered most, however that’s it. We’ve all misplaced Dota 2 video games earlier than.
So name it what it’s – Yatoro received the title and stays the GOAT, however Satanic was arguably the perfect carry participant on the earth this yr, and we will’t scratch that off from a single recreation loss. I’m certain we will all agree that Satanic nonetheless has a really lengthy profession forward of him, and this TI15 ultimate ought to solely energy him up.
