Team Spirit has pulled out of ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023, citing medical reasons. The announcement came days after Dmitry “Korb3n” Belov, announced the team’s roster may play with stand-ins in Kuala Lumpur due to players going on vacation.

The bigger narrative here is that we are going to miss out on the Ti2023 and Riyadh Masters Champions closing out the season in style. Additionally, new teams are now favored for winning this event.

Credit: ESL Dota 2

Team Spirit on and off stance on ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023

Korb3n initially emphasized the significance of ESL tournaments in accumulating points for the Riyadh Masters, and noted that skipping ESL events could lead to losing crucial EPT points, which are essential for invitations to major events. However, mere days later it seems they will miss out on all the gains they said were important.

ESL dropped an update on the team’s latest stance:

Unfortunately due to health reasons Team Spirit are no longer able to attend #ESLOne Kuala Lumpur. We wish them a speedy recovery!

The available slot will be passed to the Western European Closed Qualifiers, as the next most competitive region according to our rankings.

Speculations suggest that Yaroslav “Miposhka” Naidenov might be the player in question, as he had previously indicated a desire for a hiatus after the team’s victory at The International 2023.

There is a major concern considering the lack of Dota Pro Circuit next season, which likely means there may be an alternate system for teams to be evaluated for big events, including the International 2024 (TI13), and Kuala Lumpur may have been be the start of this count.

Who can win ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023 in Spirit’s absence

With Team Spirit out of the competition, I wonder which team can potentially win now that the gatekeepers are gone. Surely Gaimin Gladiators comes to mind, still rocking their complete roster from the International 2023 (TI12). The Western European powerhouse is second only to Team Spirit, so they are definitely fan favorites going into ESL One Kuala Lumpur.

Both LGD and Azure Ray were also invited to the event. However, Azure has released their roster after the TI Championship, while we still don’t have the finalized line-up of LGD. This puts these teams in a vulnerable position, so it would be difficult to consider them in the running to win.

Eight vacant slots remain however, and there will be regional closed qualifiers, with every region having one slot up for grabs, except Eastern Europe which has the privilege of getting two slots.

What’s interesting is that ESL featured the MENA region, which is uncommon in Dota 2 events. This may be a result from the partnership between ESL and Riyadh Masters, which aims to promote Dota 2 in MENA. In fact, two teams may already emerge from the MENA scene.

Firstly, Team Falcons from Saudi Arabia are rumoured to rock a prominent roster of prodigies, such as Said Samail “SumaiL” Hassan, Amer “Miracle–” Al-Barkawi, and Ammar “ATF” Assaf. Secondly, Gamax Esports, an Egypt-based Esports org, has a five-man roster of young blood. Expect these two MENA teams to debut at the ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023 MENA Qualifier.

Replicate as Mid
TheVeryFamousAr3a as Soft Support @ar3a1234
MeetYourBob as Hard Support @MeetYourBob
Forever as Carry @_ForeverDota2
Mego as Offlane @Megowaya

— Gamax Esports (@GamaxEsport) November 5, 2023

Despite the multiple vacant slots at ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023, the victory still seems to be in Gaimin Gladiators’ grasp, but with the Dota 2 Roster Shuffle going hard, it’s anyones game really.