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Published: October 31, 2023

Written by: Stefan Velikov


  • Team Spirit won Dota 2’s The International 12 on Sunday
  • They do so for the second time, after winning TI10 back in 2021
  • Valve decided to commemorate this rare occasion with an in-game change

Team Spirit has won a second TI and thus Valve decided to change Spirit Breaker’s name to Team Spirit Breaker in honor of the squad’s achievement.

Valve Changes Hero’s Name

Winning a world championship in any sport is no easy feat, let alone doing it twice in the span of just three years. However, when it happens it might even deserve extra credit, considering how rare it is. To mark the rare occasions, game devs sometimes include homage to the winners in their games, which is what Valve recently did with Dota 2.

Team Spirit won The International 12, doing so for the second time after first lifting the trophy above their head in 2021. In achieving such a rare feat, the Russian team has engraved their names in the annals of competitive Dota 2 and have earned the right to have their victory commemorated in the game.

This is why Valve has changed the name of one of the most popular heroes in TI12, Spirit Breaker, to Team Spirit Breaker. His rise in prominence during the event happened gradually, with constant buffs to his Charge of Darkness and Bulldoze. Additionally, a bigger map to charge around slowly Spirit Breaker back into the meta once again.

All of this resulted in the hero being a valuable asset to any team that picked him during The International 12. Although he was not picked as much as some of the other heroes like Primal Beast, Muerta, and Kunkka, Spirit Breaker still has a positive win rate of 52% this patch, according to stats tracking website Dota2ProTracker.

The real Team Spirit made great use of the hero that now bears their name. Magomed “Collapse” Khalilov, the squad’s offlaner, showcased his skills with the hero by dismantling several teams throughout the tournament with the hero. This also included the dominant game against Gaimin Gladiators at the finals on October 29.

Spirit Breaker’s consistency throughout TI12 is one of the reasons Team Spirit managed to defeat the dominant Gaimin Gladiators, who won every Dota 2 Pro Circuit Major event this year. That being said, Spirit also went undefeated throughout the group stage of TI12, but dropped one game each to Team Liquid and Virtus.Pro during the playoffs.

Still, the Russian squad managed an incredible run throughout the event and became only the second team, alongside OG, who won a The International two times.

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