Tundra Esports announced through a video tweet that two-time The International (TI) champion Topias "Topson" Taavitsainen has joined the team for TI12. This roster change has materialized shortly after speculation in the last few days suggesting that Topson would be joining Tundra, replacing Martin "Saksa" Sazdov. And it was only a day ago that Tundra, citing health concerns, had officially announced Saksa’s extended break from competitive Dota 2. Moving ahead, the rumors also suggest that Tundra’s midlaner Leon "Nine" Kirilin will take up Saksa's position four role to allow Topson to play in his regular position.
Tundra Esports adds Topson for TI12
“You’ve all been saying it, and now we’re saying it. Welcome two-time TI champion, the myth, the legend, @TopsonDota for TI12,” explained Tundra with an accompanying video of the announcement.
With Topson narrating his retirement life, clips were shown of the most memorable moments in his Dota 2 career. “Retirement’s been interesting. New job, new life. Left my past behind me. It’s been a long time but I gave all that up. Settled down. Started a family. Started a life. Dota world doesn’t need me anymore,” he said.
⚠️ You’ve all been saying it, and now we’re saying it.
— TUNDRA (@TundraEsports) September 7, 2023
Welcome two-time TI champion, the myth, the legend,@TopsonDota for TI12 #TundraTopson pic.twitter.com/XSbljEJPYs
Tundra's captain Jingjun "Sneyking" Wu then addressed the need for a worthy replacement for Saksa, its reigning TI winner.
“I don’t feel good saying this with our last minute star player appearing out of thin air, it is just not looking good for the back to back. I just wish we could finish someone like like… but players like those just don’t exist anymore. We need a miracle but not Miracle- though. Someone much better than Miracle-.”
This is followed by Topson noting that people want to know when he will return and that, as part of the announcement, he now looks forward to "seeing them at TI." Tundra’s Dota 2 roster at TI12 will consist of the following players.
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Oliver "skiter" Lepko
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Topias "Topson" Taavitsainen
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Neta "33" Shapira
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Leon "Nine" Kirilin
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Jingjun "Sneyking" Wu
Topson moved away from competitive Dota 2 after TI21 but made a last-minute attempt, which proved to be unsuccessful later, to qualify for TI22 with T1. He has competed on and off with Old G over the last year, a team that has primarily been active on a casual basis.
Topson did fill in for Tundra Esports earlier this year at BetBoom Universe: Episode I - Comics Zone, but he only played in one series.
Meanwhile, the rumor of Nine switching to position four has been well backed up by the player grinding Dota 2 ranked games in the same position over the last few weeks. According to Dota 2 Pro Tracker, Nine has played 25 games in the last eight days, almost all of them as support.
Topson replacing Nine should not cause many changes in drafting and gameplay for Tundra because the two players play similarly, so it will be intriguing to watch how the latter shapes up in his new role as a position four support. TI12 is scheduled to begin on 12th Oct 2023, thus Nine has another month to get some pubs and scrims practice done.
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