Cover-Credits:
Team Spirit’s manager Dmitry “Korb3n” Belov shared his thoughts on the future of Shopify Rebellion’s carry player Artour "Arteezy" Babaev. The upcoming The International (TI), according to Korb3n in a remark for cyber.sports.ru, might be Arteezy's last. The carry player may be retiring from professional Dota 2 because he turned 27 this year, and Korb3n believes that a carry player's peak is achieved at 26 years.
Shopify Rebellion and Team Spirit recently clashed in the DreamLeague Season 21 final. A 3-0 victory was secured by the latter through superior drafting and gameplay.
Team Spirit says Arteezy may retire after 2023
As Korb3n closely watched Arteezy compete against Team Spirit in the DreamLeague Season 21 grand final, as well as in pubs, he noted that the player had improved his gameplay, but that might not be the case ahead as well because of his age.
"A lot of pubs = form. If you watch his games, he did play better than usual, but..... All in all, I have my own theory. I wish Artour the best of luck, he's doing well. I think he turned 27 this year. My theory is that this year should be the final year of Artour's game. He should not play normally this year, because 26 is the ceiling for a carry.”
Despite Korb3n’s theory, Arteezy has not yet publicly discussed the possibility of retiring or given hints of the same.
The Canadian professional Dota 2 player has been an integral part of the competitive scene for over a decade and is widely recognized as one of the best core players of all time. He also has one of the largest fan bases in the game, which is evident when he livestreams on Twitch, where he gets a large number of spectators.
While the earlier part of his career was packed with multiple big tournament victories and achievements, the player has failed to match that level of success in the last six years with an unfortunately high number of second place finishes.
So far in 2023, Arteezy and Shopify Rebellion have not had the greatest year in terms of overall success, but their recent runner up spot in DreamLeague Season 21 will give them more confidence heading into TI12. There are also other veterans on the team including Andreas "Cr1t-" Nielsen and Tal "Fly" Aizik, both of whom are equally experienced as Arteezy.
Meanwhile, Korb3n and Team Spirit have delivered when it matters the most in 2023. They won the Riyadh Masters 2023 and the DreamLeague Season 21 events, both of which had enormous prize pools. Spirit will be one of the leading competitors at TI12.
If Korb3n's idea about Arteezy retiring after TI12 turns out to be correct, the player's fans, who have waited long enough to see the player win a huge championship, will be hoping for a positive result at the tournament to watch the player end on a high note.
