A veteran of the CIS Dota 2 scene has returned to the organization that he has spent the most total time with. Maxim “yoky-” Kim, the 22-year-old Russian offlaner, will be joining Team Empire in their Dota 2 Pro Circuit campaign this season.
Yoky- will be replacing Ivan “VANSKOR” Skorokhod, who is leaving the roster after just three months of play. VANSKOR joined in as the team’s hard support player on Sept. 12 this year, just one week after Andrey “Ghostik” Kadyk came in to sit in the offlane position.
Empire’s support role will be filled by Yoky- as a result of VANSKOR’s departure, according to the organization’s press release. He will therefore be out of his comfort zone for this run with Empire, which should be quite interesting to watch.
“[Yoky-] has a very big responsibility playing the fourth position,” said Empire’s director of esports Alexander “StrangeR” Solomonov. “I am sure that Maxim will not only pass the test, but that he will become the best in his new role.”
Yoky- last played for Empire in 2015, as part of the team’s roster for The International 5. He and the rest of the lineup got off to a hot start in the group stage, thus securing a slot in the upper bracket. Unfortunately, they were sent to the lower bracket by LGD Gaming, and were eliminated by MVP Phoenix.
This season, Empire has managed to hang around with the big names in the CIS region. Their last good result was first place at ROG Masters two weeks ago, where they took down OpTic Gaming and bagged $117,500 in prize money. They also qualified for the fourth StarLadder i-League Invitational just five days ago.
Yoky- is therefore coming back in at just the right time, with Empire having built up a bit of momentum.
