Team Spirit’s manager spoke honestly about whether MMR matters on the Dota 2 pro scene

Dmitry “Korb3n” Belov stated that MMR is important in the pro scene, but it is not a critical indicator, and individual skill and team play are much more important.

The Team Spirit manager spoke about this during a broadcast on Twitch.

"Does the ratio of age and MMR have a strong influence on a pro player's career? Well, age is less important now. Dota has become very team-oriented. I've said this many times before. Individual skill has become important, but not as much as it used to be. And in general, because the approach and everything else has changed, people are generally on equal footing. Individual skill is still important, but if you play as a team like geniuses, then it's...

Well, MMR is important, yes. Within reason, of course. That is, if you are, for example, in the top 200, then in general there is no particular difference. Maybe there is a difference in certain roles — I didn't segment it, I didn't look at it, I can't draw any conclusions"

He noted that ladder position doesn't play a significant role, and players in 50th or 160th place can play at virtually the same level. He cited Denis “Larl” Sigitov as an example, who had a radically different MMR when he won tournaments.

"But generally speaking, Dan won the tournament and was ranked 120th-150th. It's just that when he won the Riyadh Masters 2025, he was, I think, in the top 60 or top 40. He moved up there, yes. But overall, there are many examples. And in general, everyone fluctuates quite often. That is, being in the top 50 and being in the top 150 — people fluctuate between these numbers within a month and a half"

Let us recall that Ilya "Yatoro" Mularchuk previously wanted to change his appearance again.