Photo of author

Team Spirit and Dota 2 player mutually split ways due to performance concerns.

Vitaly “so bad” Oshmankevich Leaves Team Spirit

Vitaly “so bad” Oshmankevich and Team Spirit have officially parted ways. Oshmankevich was benched in February and was used as a stand-in during the CIS upper division regional league for season one of the Dota Pro Circuit.

A Stable Roster Challenge for Team Spirit

Team Spirit has been one of the top Dota 2 teams in the CIS region over the last several months. However, the team has struggled to maintain a stable five-man roster ever since Oshmankevich was benched.

In December, Spirit signed the upstart Yellow Submarine stack that had been performing well in online competitions throughout 2020. Oshmankevich served as the captain of Yellow Submarine, but Spirit faced difficulties during the early DPC season.

After two weeks of play, the team decided to bench Oshmankevich and loaned Miroslaw Kolpakov from Cascade to fill his spot.

Oshmankevich did have a few opportunities to play for the team after being benched, including in the tiebreaker round against AS Monaco Gambit where Spirit narrowly missed out on qualifying for the ONE Esports Singapore Major.

Spirit’s Dota manager Dmitry “Korb3n” Belov praised Oshmankevich’s professionalism, stating, “Let me tell you one thing, when we needed a substitute player for the tiebreakers last season, Vitaly did everything like a professional. If we release a discord recording from training and from the official game, then no one will ever believe that there is a conflict in the team. Considering all these funny things that take place in Dota, such personal qualities are very valuable.”

Currently, Miroslaw remains with Spirit on loan, while Oshmankevich is a free agent. He has until April 11 to join a new team before the roster lock goes into effect for season two of the DPC.