Cover-Credits:
While the roster shuffle season continues to provide entertainment, the community noticed that Team Spirit’s mid laner Alexander "TORONTOTOKYO" Khertek has been practicing a new role in public matches. TORONTOTOKYO has primarily played in the mid lane for most of his career and his biggest successes have all come from the Position 2 role. However, it looks like TORONTOTOKYO is at least considering a shift away from the midlane.
TORONTOTOKYO is still currently contracted to Team Spirit at the moment, however following the team’s disappointing title defense at The International 2022 (TI11), the team might be looking to make some changes for the 2022/2023 Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) season.
TORONTOTOKYO looking to swap into support role
Alexander "TORONTOTOKYO" Khertek has been grinding in public matches following Team Spirit’s disappointing title defense at The International 2022 (TI11), which saw them being eliminated from the event in the first round of the Lower Bracket. However, it looks like the Russian midlaner is looking to practice the support role according to both of his Dota2ProTracker profiles.
TORONTOTOKYO's alternate account
At first glance, it appears that TORONTOTOKYO has been grinding hard on his main and alternative accounts as he played almost 70 matches within the past week. However, the community also noticed that TORONTOTOKYO has been playing heroes that are usually played in the support position such as Mirana, Tiny, Crystal Maiden and more.
According to both of his profiles, TORONTOTOKYO has his highest win rate with Mirana by winning 11 out of 19 matches played as support. Additionally, his second and third highest win rate heroes are with Silencer & Tiny which were also played in the support role.
While it is common to see players playing a different role in public matches, it appears that TORONTOTOKYO is preparing to hang up his mid laner boots to play a new position for the upcoming season. According to recent rumors, the Russian midlaner is looking to leave Team Spirit after 2 years of being with the roster. He is also looking to create a new team with Egor "Nightfall" Grigorenko & Vitalie "Save-" Melnic while also rumored to be swapping roles should the team come to fruition.
Additionally, Team Spirit might look to announce the departure of TORONTOTOKYO in the upcoming weeks after the community discovered that former BetBoom Team mid laner Denis "Larl '' Sigitov was practicing with the team in place of TORONTOTOKYO. In addition, team manager Ruslana "DKLana" Berest recently revealed a short video of Team Spirit’s bootcamp, which also revealed Larl present at the camp with the roster.
