Team Empire Dota 2 Team Profile

On the ever-growing and expanding scene of eSports teams and franchises, there are currently several notable names that spring to mind when talking about well-established teams that have made a significant impact both on the local and global scene. There are numerous up-and-coming teams that are trying to make a name for themselves, but there are now only a handful of those that are still actively competing while remaining successful and relevant on the current competitive gaming scene.

One of those outstanding and consistent franchises is none other than Team Empire. Team Empire is surely one of the leading eSports organizations in Russia, and a strong force in the world of eGaming. The organizations was created and started operating in 2004, with its headquarters then situated in the capital city of Russia, Moscow.

They are widely known to be one of Russia’s most decorated franchise, besides also being one of the largest as well. They are particularly well known for their highly successful players and teams competing in disciplines such as StarCraft II, League of Legends, Dota 2, Call of Duty, Heroes of the Storm, Hearthstone, along with several other eSports titles where they managed to land considerably well in the rankings at numerous events and entire tournaments.

In late 2011, when their team that competed in Heroes of Newerth became increasingly interested in venturing into other games, the organization decided to transition to Dota 2 and push most of their efforts towards the goal of accomplishing great things within this discipline. At first the team had difficulties in keeping a steady and reliable roster. This ultimately resulted in a great number of players from various CIS countries joining and then leaving the team, but the organization remained persistent and eventually formed a team roster that would prove strong and prosperous in the face of competition. This is why the team has ever since been at the top of the Dota 2 scene and why there is still much more for them to be accomplished. Here is a short history of the organization and their Dota 2 team.

Team History

As we mentioned earlier, in late December 2011, the team that competed in Heroes of Newerth decided to switch to Dota 2, which would be one of the most rewarding decisions. By January of 2012, eLight and Spize would be replaced by s4 and BADO. Later, on March 22, the team would add Blowyourbrain to the roster, and shortly thereafter ALWAYSWANNAFLY, Jackal and Lega as well.

Before the start of the Star Series Season 2 Finals, j4 would go on to replace Lega and make the roster complete. However, in September Silent, Funn1k and Goblak would replace ALWAYSWANNAFLY, Jackal and j4 in order to give the team a better chance at the upcoming events.

By the end of February 2013, Funn1k decided to part ways with the team, and after a few weeks of playing as a stan-in, Vigoss became a full-time member of the team. Dissatisfied with the results of the team, Goblak and Silent split with Empire, and the team soon announced Mitch and twiSta as their replacements, while Vigoss went inactive. On April 29, Empire had announced that LightofHeaveN, whom previously played for Natus Vincere, would join the team, but he would leave the team at the end of August to join Virtus.pro. This resulted in Silent returning to Empire from his short stay with Quantic Gaming to replace him. VANSKOR was then announced as the newest addition.

September saw the team changing lineups quite frequently, with blowyourbrain leaving the team. By then the team had only 3 players left in their team roster and were looking for acceptable replacements. Mag~ joined Empire and tool a role as offlaner, while Vigoss decided to leave. ALWAYWANNAFLY rejoined the team and Mag~, with whom he previously played in another team. By the end of the year there was another lineup change when Scandal left the team and was replaced by Resolut1on.

In August 2014, VANSKOR left Empire, and Solo became an official member of Empire after playing as a stand-in for a month. Yoky- joined the team when he replaced Mag~. In November 2014, GeneRaL came to the team and replaced yoky-, who didn’t last long. ALOHADANCE became a full-fledged member after a short period playing as stand-in, which ultimately completed the year of 2014 and the various lineup changes. The final lineup for 2014 consisted of Silent, yoky-. ALOHADANCE, ALWAYSWANNAFLY and Resolut1on as team captain.

On August 25, 2015, Team Empire made several changes to the team roster and added ubah. By September, The_apathy became the fifth players and completed the lineup. The team then went throught the open qualifiers. However, yoky- returned to the team and replaced ubah after several disappointing results, and The_apathy was also let go. By October it was officially announced that yoky- and Nofear were part of the team roster. Later GeneRaL and Silent would leave the team to join Pro Gaming and Virtus.pro, respectively. Funn1k returned and XBOCT became part of the team as well, with Flow becoming a substitute.

On February 4, 2016, Resolut1on decided to leave the team, and on March 1, Funn1k once again split with Empire and joined Team Spirit. On March 25, Team Empire officially announced they were letting go of their remaining team roster and would form a new team that would compete in Dota 2. On July 12, Scandal was let go, and on August 4, Afterlife officially joined the team, but the next month already left. September 2016, as a result of the TI shuffle, became once more a month where numerous players left the team and new ones joined, some as full-time players, some as stand-ins. Some of these would not stay long with Empire and would eventually leave.

In early 2017, fn and Chappie joined the team and complete the Team Empire roster. The current roster now consists of:

• Vladimir Kuzmenko “Chappie”
• Rostislav Lozovoi “fn”
• Andrey Kadyk “Ghostik”
• Yaroslav Naidenov “Miposhka”
• Vladimir Nikogosyan “RodjER”

 

Notable Achievements:

• 2^nd StarLadder StarSeries Season 9 – $38,000
• 1^st Dota 2 Champions League Season 3 – $33,918
• 1^st Excellent Moscow Cup 2 – $37,788
• 1^st StarLadder StarSeries Season 11 – $38,934
• 1^st joinDOTA MLG Pro League Season 1 – $34,584
• 1^st Dota 2 Champions League Season 5 – $39,752
• 2^nd MarsTV Dota 2 League 2015 Spring – $48,363
• 9-12^th The International 2015 – $221,155
• 1^st Game Show Global eSports Cup Season 1 – $125,000
• 1^st Global Grand Masters – $25,000