Cover-Credits:
TSM has completed its lineup for the 2022/2023 Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) season by announcing Matthew “Ari” Walker & Matthew “Whitemon” Filemon as its newest support duo.
With the deadline for the roster locks slowly edging closer, many teams have begun to announce either their full rosters or tease their fanbases by announcing their players one by one. In TSM’s case, the organization preferred to announce things as simple as possible.
Ari & Whitemon joins TSM for 2023
“Please welcome the two newest additions to our 2023 DOTA 2 roster. 🏆 Ari &🏆 Whitemon”, TSM wrote in its announcement post on Twitter as it welcomed its newest additions.
TSM had a decent start in its debut season in the competitive Dota 2 scene. The team dominated the North American (NA) regional DPC league & achieved a top two finish at the ESL One Stockholm 2022 Major. However, as the season progressed the organization’s performances faltered.
Despite having multiple top eight finishes at LAN tournaments like the Riyadh Masters 2022 & ESL One Malaysia 2022, the team’s performance at its first ever TI (The International) was a disaster as the team bombed out of The International 2022 (TI11) in the group stages, placing 17th-20th place.
After TI11, the organization underwent roster changes as it parted ways with Kim “DuBu” Doo-young at the start of the roster shuffle season. Team captain David "MoonMeander" Tan later announced that he would be transitioning to the team’s head coach as he believes that other players deserve an opportunity to play with the roster.
Ari was a competitive Heroes of the Storm (HOTS) player before he transitioned to Dota 2 full-time in 2021, following the discontinuation of HOTS’ professional league. However, the British support made headlines when he was a part of the former Into The Breach roster. During the TI11 Western Europe Qualifier the team finished 4th place, barely missing out on a spot in the Last Chance Qualifiers to Team Secret.
On the other hand, Whitemon recently spent the season with T1 in Southeast Asia (SEA). Following the roster’s disbandment Whitemon decided to pursue other opportunities in a different region and he ended up joining TSM.
Following this announcement, it is safe to say that TSM has finally concluded its business in the roster shuffle season. However, coach MoonMeander, in an interview in the BTS Pro Series S13, said that the announcement was simply “an appetizer” as the organization has more to announce in the coming days.
