If you've tuned in to EPIC League's Division 2, you may have been impressed by one of Dota 2's rising stacks,
Yellow Submarine. Dominating this league, they finished first place in the round-robin group stage, pushing them into the play-in stage. Facing off against
Just Error in the play-in, which Yellow Submarine had lost to in the
EPIC League Division 1 qualifiers, they dominated game one and had an amazing comeback after being down 10K experience in game 2. This makes them the only team from Division 2 to be relegated into the Division 1 playoffs and gives them a sweet taste of revenge as well. What an upset!
Though they haven’t competed in many events, they were able to secure a spot at
ESL One Germany, where they started to gain attention. They had probably the toughest group in this event, able to take series off of Team Nigma and Ninjas In Pyjamas, but falling to Team Secret, OG, and Natus Vincere, who placed second. Following this, Yellow Submarine finished third-fourth at
DOTA Summit 13 Online: Europe & CIS and fell just short of qualifying for EPIC League Division 1 after dropping best-of-fives to mudgolems and Just Error.
Yellow Submarine formed just before the ESL ONE Germany open qualifiers, meaning they are an incredibly new stack. This squad has shown immense growth in the short span they’ve been together. Anchored by their experienced support duo of Yaroslav “Miposhka” Naidenov and Vitaliy “so bad” Oshmankevich and their fiery young cores of Magomed “Collapse” Halilov, Alexander “TORONTOTOKYO” Khertek, Ilya “Yatoro” Mulyarchuk, Yellow Submarine definitely has a spot in the top of CIS Dota 2. Let’s meet the squad.
One of Russia’s most notable position five players, Miposhka has the most impressive track record on this team, having finished top eight at The International 7 with Team Empire. Most recently, he played with
HellRaisers, who finished third at
DOTA Summit 11 and second in Parimatch League Season 1. Miposhka excels on Enchantress, Oracle, and CIS’s staple Disruptor.
Miposhka’s stacks have always been somewhat successful in the CIS region. Do he and the rest of Yellow Submarine have what it takes to fight with the CIS titans?
Despite his name, this Belarusian support player has shown some incredible plays on Phoenix, Lina, and Io in the past few months. So bad hasn’t been able to find a team to call home in the past year. He missed qualifying for The International 9 with Vega Squadron and had an extremely short stint with Na’Vi as he played for them in one event,
ESL One Birmingham 2020 - Online: Europe & CIS.
The oldest player on the team at 25, so bad has steadily improved as a position four player. Hopefully this stack will prove to be “so good” for so bad.
Though the previously mentioned players have some more extensive experience in the Dota 2 scene, the core players of this team are pretty fresh to CIS. Collapse is a young Russian offlane player who has been shining on Yellow Submarine. Collapse played on a team briefly known as Cascade, but didn’t find much success with them. In most recent events, he has been incredible on Mars, Bloodseeker, and offlane Viper.
With what seems to be a lack of offlane players in the CIS region currently, it’s no doubt that Collapse has been a star player. EPIC League and BTS Pro Series Season 4: Europe/CIS will surely give him enough time to show the world what he’s made of.
TORONTOTOKYO, previously known as mio, is an explosive Russian mid player with an aggressive playstyle. He plays fast-paced nuking heroes like Storm Spirit and Invoker, and has been playing a lot of Snapfire mid as well. Again, not having much experience, TORONTOTOKYO most recently played for
Khan and placed sixth in OMEGA League: Europe Divine Division and fourth in
BTS Pro Series Season 3: Europe/CIS.
Though there are a lot of explosive mid players in the scene, it hasn’t been hard for TORONTOTOKYO to stand out. The only series Yellow Submarine has dropped in EPIC League was when he was replaced by a stand-in, which could show how vital he is to the team’s success.
One of the youngest players in the scene at 17, Yatoro is a Ukranian carry player who has carried Yellow Submarine to many victories. He hadn’t found a successful stack in the past, and Yellow Submarine is the first team to really let him showcase his skills, proving to be exceptional on Faceless Void, Spectre, and Lifestealer.
Not much is known about this young player, but if he’s able to compete with the best of the best at this age, it’ll be incredible to see how far he goes in the coming years.
What’s in store
Watch Yellow Submarine play in the EPIC League Division 1 playoff against OG on December 8.