Yellow Submarine and the Quest for The International 2025

Yellow Submarine is a smaller Eastern European team that works as a kind of talent funnel to bigger rosters, such as Team Spirit. After Alan "Satanic" Gallyamov left the previous iteration of this team to play for Team Spirit, we got a new roster.

The mind behind all this is Dmitry "Korb3n" Belov. He has been managing Satanic’s career and has achieved impressive results revealing talents in Eastern Europe. Let’s take a look at how Yellow Submarine’s new roster fared in The International 2025 Qualifiers for Western Europe.

I dare say there is no Yellow Submarine without Korb3n. — Credit: Liquipedia

Yellow Submarine: PGL Wallachia Season 3

As we mentioned, Yellow Submarine is basically Korb3n’s pet project, and it has delivered amazing results. Both Satanic and Aleksandr "rue" Filin were "promoted" to Team Spirit, and eventually, Satanic landed on PARIVISION.

They were eliminated before getting to the playoffs and disbanded. — Credit: Strafe

After that, Korb3n signed BanyaPivoSamogon and tried to make it work, following their good performance in the PGL Wallachia Season 3 qualification. Unfortunately, things did not go far this time, and the roster disbanded.

The Run for The International 2025 Slot

After building a new roster from the ground up, Korb3n entered them into The International 2025 Western European Qualifiers. This was their formation going into the event:

• Andrei "bottega" Kopytko (1)
• Marat "Mirele" Gazetdinov (2)
• Rodion "INFERNAL" Kulakov (3)
• Mikhail "lupsione" Lapochkin (4)
• Egor "Xakoda" Lipartiya (5)

This roster is mostly comprised of unknown players, "sprinkled" with a couple of more experienced supports. One important note is that bottega is currently being trained for BetBoom Team and might appear on their main roster in the future.

First Round of the Western Europe Regionals

Yellow Submarine was one of many Eastern European teams entering the Western European Qualifiers. They placed third in the Open Qualifiers after losing to Team Secret in the Lower Bracket and then beating Zero Tenacity in the third-place decider.

The roster change showed results in the first round of the regionals. — Credit: Strafe

In the first round, they once again faced Team Secret, just days after their defeat in the Open Qualifiers. Despite the short time window, Yellow Submarine improved their performance and defeated Secret 2-0. This was a clear demonstration that Yellow Submarine had hidden potential and would not stop here.

Round 2: AVULUS, the Former Golden Boys

Right after getting their revenge on Team Secret, Yellow Submarine faced AVULUS. AVULUS used to be Western Europe’s “Golden Boys”, a team that, despite not placing well in most tournaments, still managed to secure spots at PGL Wallachia and ESL events.

Yellow Submarine seemed to be another Cinderella story in progress. — Credit: Strafe

Yellow Submarine was already playing their best, and this showed once again against AVULUS. The match featured a longer second map, but AVULUS couldn’t withstand the pressure and lost 2-0, sending Yellow Submarine to the Quarterfinals.

Yellow Submarine in the Quarterfinals

Reaching the Quarterfinals meant that Yellow Submarine’s dream was getting closer to reality. Their next opponent was 1w Team, their first Eastern European adversary in the qualifiers. Even though 1w Team progressed further in the event, their results still placed them below AVULUS in the Strafe Rank.

Stronger teams fell along the way, but Yellow Submarine survived. — Credit: Strafe

This time, the result, while still surprising, was not entirely unexpected. Yellow Submarine won again, 2-0, and advanced to the Lower Bracket Semifinals, where they would face Nigma Galaxy. Unfortunately, this would mark the end of their dream run, but they would not go down without a fight.

Semifinals and the End of a Dream

In contrast to Team Nemesis’s dream come true, Yellow Submarine encountered a barrier too big to overcome. Their match against Nigma Galaxy placed them in the path of SumaiL and his teammates, all hungry for a spot at The International 2025.

This was the end of the line, but the potential is still there. — Credit: Strafe

After a dramatic first map that lasted 50 minutes, Yellow Submarine lost the following two maps and was eliminated. This marked the end of their TI 2025 journey, but certainly not the end for this promising roster.

Yellow Submarine Has a Positive Outlook

Finally, we come to their current position: a promising roster that lives or dies by the mercy of Korb3n. He has pulled off many surprises in the past and will most likely try to make this work again, but for now, only Korb3n knows what’s next. I hope they survive the pos-TI shuffle and come out on the other end.

Submarines are made to sink... and to resurface too. — Credit: Eric de Oliveira

If you want to find out whether Yellow Submarine will sink for now or resurface again after the premium tournaments are over, keep a close eye on them and on the professional Dota 2 scene through the news section of the Strafe website!

Featured Image Source: Eric de Oliveira