Dota 2‘s The International 10 winners Team Spirit are coming off spectacular victories at the Riyadh Masters 2023 and subsequent DreamLeague Season 21. According to Team Spirit’s position four player Myroslav “Mira” Kolpakov, the team plans to continue their hot streak throughout TI12 to match OG’s legendary runs.
Mira appeared on prominent Ukrainian caster Aleksey “Storm” Tumanov’s podcast to share his thoughts about Team Spirit’s current run and how they plan to tackle TI12 going forward. Mira said that his dream for Team Spirit is to rival OG’s legendary status, after the team won two back-to-back tournaments in TI8 and TI9, by surpassing them in terms of accomplishments.
Mira feels that Team Spirit isn’t too worried about the prize pool this year because the team has won a lot of it already. They are in this run for the achievements and the prestige of being known as the world’s best once again.
However, getting to that level is the real challenge because Mira knows this is not going to be an easy task, with several talented teams standing in their way. One team in particular that he thinks will be the biggest roadblock is Gaimin Gladiators, the team that won the majority of DPC events throughout 2023.
Despite winning all these tournaments, Mira cannot understand why Gaimin would put extra pressure on themselves by competing in even more events, like the BetBoom DACHA 2023, so close to TI. He claims that the team should learn to slow down and enjoy their success, then come into TI12 mentally refreshed and fully prepared for the big tournament.
He concluded by stating that the pressure is causing cracks to form, such as it is with Gaimin’s star midlaner Quinn Callahan. Mira stated that it was once extremely hard to win against Quinn but now it is very easy to make the man crack in their pub games due to his “ego.” Despite these shortcomings, he said that Gaimin Gladiators are still going to be their toughest opponents at TI12.
With The International 12 right around the corner, running from Oct. 12 to Oct. 29, this year’s tournament is shaping up to be an exciting one. Will we see a returning champion or a new wild card take the Aegis home? Only time will tell and we will bring you the latest TI-related news all the way.
