Yakutou Brothers were called upon to take the bench for TI 2025

The 2025 Dota 2 International Invitational (TI 2025) ushered in a major news. The Western European powerhouse Gaimin Gladiators, which was originally directly invited, suddenly announced its withdrawal from the competition due to internal conflicts. The Chinese team Yakutou Brothers was ordered to replace them.

This decision makes Yakutou Brothers the next Chinese team to represent the tournament, following LGD. Although Yakutou Brothers was founded not long ago, it boasts a roster comprised of many veteran players. The current roster includes flyfly, Emo, Beyond, BoBoKa, and Oli.

Among them, flyfly, Emo, and Oli reached the TI semifinals with iG in 2021; BoBoKa achieved the same feat with Team Aster in 2022; and Beyond also appeared at TI in 2024, showing their extensive experience. Although the team as a whole is still relatively new, the players' strength and experience give them confidence in their ability to fill in on the spot.

The Yakutou Brothers finished second in this year's China qualifiers. They also finished in the top six on their BetBoom Dacha Belgrade debut during the season and reached the knockout stages of DreamLeague and BLAST series events multiple times.

This decision sparked debate within the community. Some fans suggested that Western European team OG was a more qualified replacement, while others pointed out that Gaimin Gladiators, originally a direct-invitation team, didn't necessarily need to be named according to regional order. Considering the Yakutou Brothers' recent performance and potential, they were undoubtedly a logical choice.

TI 2025 will be held in Hamburg, Germany from September 4th to 14th. The total prize pool has exceeded $2 million and is expected to continue growing. The addition of the Yakutou Brothers not only adds a new force to the Chinese region, but also adds more excitement to this year's TI.