win.gg
Win.gg Dota 2 Three Dota 2 icons have retired after The International 2022

Three Dota 2 icons have retired after The International 2022

Author Icon
William Davis Published 31/10/2022

Your favorite Dota 2 pros have have just retired now that The International 2022 is over.

While The International 2022 was a celebration of Dota 2, the event has also closed the curtains on some of the game’s most illustrious players. Multiple pros announced before and during the tournament that they intend to retire once the $19 million Dota 2 tournament finds its champion. Now that Tundra Esports has claimed the Aegis, these three players will leave behind historic careers.

MATUMBAMAN is retired after The International 2022

The first player many fans will recognize is Team Liquid carry and Aegis winner Lasse “MATUMBAMAN” Urpalainen. The TI7 champion announced his intention to retire shortly before the event. He later confirmed his decision to retire through social media after Liquid finally settled at third place.

https://twitter.com/MATUMBAMAN/status/1586639201864679425

Matu began his last dance in the last chance qualifier where Liquid and Secret both began podium runs. Liquid took an early tumble to Aster to fall into the lower bracket, but the squad fought all the way to loser’s finals before finally being knocked out by Secret. Along the way, MATUMBAMAN scored a career-defining highlight where he saved his Ludwig “zai” Wåhlberg’s Pangolier at literally 1 HP with an Infest bomb.

MATUMBAMAN’s retirement comes after winning an estimated $4.9 million from eight years of competitive play. His biggest championship with an Aegis at The International 2017, which was also under the Team Liquid banner. Lasse, as familiar fans call him, is still young, and a future comeback may have become even likelier after such an outstanding run at The International 2022.

CN legends Ame and Faith_Bian have left Dota 2

In addition to one of the west’s most iconic carries, Dota 2 will also lose two of the most successful players in Chinese Dota 2 history.

PSG.LGD captain Zhang “Faith_bian” Ruida announced on social media ahead of The International 2022 that he intends for it to be his last Dota 2 tournament before switching to retired status. If true, the captain will leave after a disappointing fifth-place finish. The modern LGD captain first rose to prominence after winning The International 2016 with Wings Gaming. That tournament remains the last time a Chinese team won The International.

Dota 2 pro Faith_Bian retired after The International 2022

Fellow PSG.LGD player Wang “Ame” Chunyu has not formally announced his retirement, but he has hinted at leaving the competitive scene multiple times in 2022. He claimed that his retirement status was a secret during a Dota Pro Circuit interview, and the carry  While Ame’s retirement is not confirmed, it would put an end to an extremely successful career with five consecutive top-five finishes at The International and almost $4 million in earnings.

William Davis
About William Davis

View full profile
Read Also
Yandex to repeat?: BLAST SLAM VIII preview, predictions, and more Dota 2
Yandex to repeat?: BLAST SLAM VIII preview, predictions, and more Michael Hassall If you can believe it, we’re already on the eighth edition of BLAST SLAM, as BLAST SLAM VIII kicks off tomorrow (Sep. 29) pitting 16 of the world’s best Dota 2 teams against each other in what promises to be the first big challenge of this young season. Let’s face it: At PGL Wallachia, we were missing a lot of the heavy hitters. No TI15 champs, no PARIVISION, not BetBoom, ...
Unstoppable Yandex crush NAVI in one-sided PGL Wallachia finals Dota 2
Unstoppable Yandex crush NAVI in one-sided PGL Wallachia finals Michael Hassall Team Yandex has swept the grand finals of the PGL Wallachia Season 9 Dota 2 tournament, defeating Natus Vincere (NAVI) in a 3-0 drubbing this past weekend (Sep. 27). As predicted, the revitalized Yandex, hot off the signing of former Team Falcons star Ammar "ATF" Al-Assaf, crushed their youthful opponents in a three-game sweep in the best-of-five finals. Here’s how it happened: After upsetting the star-studded LGD Gaming roster (albeit ...
Team Yandex to win it all? PGL Wallachia Season 9 Finals preview and predictions Dota 2
Team Yandex to win it all? PGL Wallachia Season 9 Finals preview and predictions Michael Hassall The first big event after TI15, PGL Wallachia Season 9, wraps up this Sunday, Sep. 27, and it’s set to be a hell of a show. After a solid week of action, with some surprise eliminations along the way, we’re down to just three teams from the original 16. Team Yandex, LGD Gaming, and Natus Vincere (NAVI) remain, having battled through some big upsets to get there. Yandex are hot ...
MidOne to Play for Team Liquid at BLAST Slam 8, Replacing Nisha: Permanent or Stand-in? Dota 2
MidOne to Play for Team Liquid at BLAST Slam 8, Replacing Nisha: Permanent or Stand-in? Owen Harsono Like most other Dota 2 teams, Team Liquid have also undergone roster changes after The International 2026, replacing Ace for Wisper. However, a swap in offlaners wasn’t the end, as veteran mid-laner MidOne has been registered under the team ahead of BLAST Slam 8, taking Nisha’s spot. Is MidOne only acting as a stand-in, or is this going to be a permanent move? Here’s what we know. On September 25, ...
PGL Wallachia Season 9 Playoffs preview and predictions Dota 2
PGL Wallachia Season 9 Playoffs preview and predictions Michael Hassall PGL Wallachia Season 9 is the first major tournament since the 2025/2026 Dota 2 season came to its conclusion at TI15, and with the roster shuffle still, well, shuffling, and top teams skipping the event while they get things finalized, it’s been an unusual tournament so far. With some surprising names in the playoffs (especially if you’ve been following the scene for the rest of the year) and the absence ...
ESIC hand down ruling in EWC Dota match-fixing case: Lifetime ban for coach as DarkMago gets a nickel Dota 2
ESIC hand down ruling in EWC Dota match-fixing case: Lifetime ban for coach as DarkMago gets a nickel Michael Hassall South American Dota 2 player Gonzalo "DarkMago" Herrera will be banned for five years from competitive Dota 2, with his coach Juan "Vintage" Angulo banned permanently, following the results of an The Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) investigation. ESIC handed down the findings and rulings from its investigation into match-fixing allegations leveled at members of South American Dota 2 team PlayTime during the Esports World Cup on Sep. 10, in a ...
Polystrike Turns a Dota 2 Mod Into a Standalone Tactical Shooter News
Polystrike Turns a Dota 2 Mod Into a Standalone Tactical Shooter Hannan Mundia After the community-made mod found success within the community, developer and publisher Robin Entertainment has decided to turn Polystrike into a proper standalone game. Community-made mods of games finding success within the respective game’s community is nothing new. However, only a handful of those mods are able to go on and become a standalone game. One of the more recent examples is The Forgotten City, which started as a mod ...