Dota 2: The Carries At The International 12 And Their Signature Heroes #3

This will be the final series regarding the best carries at The International 12 and everything you need to know about them.

In our last article about the best carries at The International 12, we’ve shared a few words about some of the best players in the world. However, now that the TI12 qualifiers are over, we also know the names of the other pos1 players who will defend their team’s pride. We know you want to learn more about them, so we’ll review the remaining carries.

As you are about to see, some of them have been professional players for years and know what they’re doing. However, others are not like that and are yet to prove what they’re capable of. So, let’s learn more information about each one.

Contents

1 Egor “Nightfall” Grigorenko – BetBoom Team
2 Héctor “K1” Rodríguez – nouns
3 Guilherme “Costabile” Costábile – Keyd Stars
4 Aliaksei “Smiling Knight” Svirydau – Thunder Awaken
5 Alimzhan “watson” Islambekov – Entity
6 Aybek “TA2000” Tokayev – Quest Esports
7 Ilya “Kiritych” Ulyanov – Virtus.Pro
8 Lou “Lou” Zhen – Azure Ray
9 Yeik “MidOne” Nai Zheng – Team SMG

Egor “Nightfall” Grigorenko – BetBoom Team

BetBoom Team will be one of the big favorites to win this year’s The International, and Nightfall is one of the reasons for this. He’s one of the top carries at The International 12 because his most recent results have been impressive.

Also known as epileptic k1d, Nightfall’s career began in 2019 when he played for Virtus.Pro. After spending around 2 years with the club, he moved to North America, where he played for Evil Geniuses.

Since things didn’t work out in NA, he moved to CIS again in 2022 when he joined BetBoom Team. Although he was EG”s offlaner, the player was given the position 1 role again, and he quickly became a force to be reckoned with.

Nightfall is one of the players that people associate with some of the hardest carries in the game. This includes names like:

Héctor “K1” Rodríguez – nouns

Nouns is a North American team that’s very interesting because the squad consists of a few players from South America. K1 is one of them, and he happens to be nouns’ carry. Also known as Hector, he played for a few big SA teams over the years, including Gorilaz-Pride, beastcoast, Infamous, and others. In fact, he was a part of the region until recently, when he decided to move to nouns.

Before joining NA, K1 was one of beastcoast’s s stars. He is famous for many things, including that he’s the first player from SA to reach 12,000 MMR. K1 can use a lot of heroes, but the carry is popular for the following:

Guilherme “Costabile” Costábile – Keyd Stars

One of the new carries at The International 12 is a part of Keyd Stars, and his name is Costabile. He is one of the biggest carries in South America because he played for many big clubs. In fact, he was a part of Keyd Stars before because he played for it in 2016.

Prior to joining this team, Costabile spent a few months with nouns. However, it seems like he and the NA team weren’t able to come to an agreement, so the young star decided to move back to Brazil.

Costabile can play a lot of heroes, and he has proven it over the years. Nevertheless, some of the heroes he’s more popular with include:

Aliaksei “Smiling Knight” Svirydau – Thunder Awaken

The second squid from SA that will be a part of The International 12 is Thunder Awaken. The entire team is pretty good, but their carry player from CIS is probably the name that stands out the most. At just 22 years of age, the 11K MMR player made a name for himself in the last couple of years.

Before playing with Thunder Awaken, he was a part of Team Empire and Gambit Esports. He also spent a few months at One Move, but things did not work well, so he moved to South America.

Smiling Knight is good with a lot of heroes, but like most carries, he is known for his interest in hard carries. Some of them include:

Alimzhan “watson” Islambekov – Entity

Watson has been a part of the Dota 2 scene since 2019, but since he’s been a part of many teams, he is one of the most interesting carries at The International 12. Aside from Entity, he played for HellRaisers and B8. These two clubs allowed him to get some experience, which explains why his performance for Entity has been pretty good.

Watson can play with a lot of heroes, but if we take a look at Entity’s games, we can see that he excels with these three:

Aybek “TA2000” Tokayev – Quest Esports

One of the hidden favorites at TI12 is Quest Esports, and their carry TA2000 is among the players that a lot of people will follow. The CIS superstar is just 23 years old, but he has solid experience under his belt.

One of the interesting carries at The International 12 was a part of Khan, V-Gaming, Pango, NiceOne, and now Quest Esports. The latter came out of nowhere, but the squad’s impressive results allowed it to gain many fans.

Ilya “Kiritych” Ulyanov – Virtus.Pro

One of the new names at The International 12 is Virtus.Pro’s carry player Kiritych. The 20-year-old player began his pro career in 2020, and he spent almost 2 years with Nemiga Gaming. Since the team couldn’t qualify for the big international events, he became a part of Virtus.Pro.

At just 20 years of age, he is one of Russia’s best players and has proven it several times now. A lot of people consider him to be the top-tier Terorrblade player, so we will have to see if that’s the case at TI 12.

Lou “Lou” Zhen – Azure Ray

There’s no arguing that Azure Ray is an interesting team with some of the best Chinese players. However, unlike Maybe and fy, Lou is one of the carries at The International 12 that has no experience. In fact, this will be the player’s first big tournament, which means we can’t wait to see him in action.

Lou became one of China’s biggest young stars around 2 years ago when he was a part of Ybb Gaming. He also played for Xtreme Gaming and then joined the newly formed squad called Azura Ray.

Thanks to Lou’s incredible skills, the player was able to help this team win the Chinese qualifiers. Now, we will have to wait and see if he and the squad will be able to surprise everyone with their results.

Lou can play a lot of heroes, but these three are often associated with his name:

Yeik “MidOne” Nai Zheng – Team SMG

The last player is probably the most famous here because he’s been a top-tier Dota 2 player since 2016. MidOne was Team Secret’s big star, and he was known for being one of the best midders in the world. After spending more than 4 years with the club, he also played for OG, but he’s been a part of Team SMG since 2021.

Even though the squad wasn’t able to win any big events, it won the SEA qualifiers and will be a part of TI 12. MidOne is one of the carries at The International 12 that has more experience than the rest, so we expect a lot from him.