Team Spirit’s middle laner Denis “Larl” Sigitov will be taking a break for the next six weeks of competitive Dota 2 as per an announcement by Team Spirit.
The announcement made late on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2025, across Team Spirit’s social media, stated that Larl would miss “FISSURE Universe, BLAST Slam VI and DreamLeague S28.” Marat “Mirele” Gazetdinov will be replacing Larl during his absence.
Larl has been a core member of the Team Spirit lineup since joining the squad in 2022. He was a part of the team’s 2023 win at The International, and one of the reasons the organization has remained at the peak of Dota 2 for almost half a decade.
However, Larl has also suffered with health issues in the past. Following the team’s victory at the Esports World Cup 2025, Larl took a break, reportedly to recover from surgery which some attributed to an eye injury. This absence would lead to some turmoil ahead of TI14 in Hamburg, but ultimately Larl would compete with Spirit for the majority of the event.
Now Larl will take an extended leave of absence during some of the initial tournaments of 2026. It’s unknown if this new absence is related to the previously reported surgery, but some outlets and fans have speculated it is.
In his place, Mirele will step up into the role for Spirit. A younger player, at just 20 years old, Mirele has been seen as a rising star of the Russian scene, first turning heads with his performance at the Open Esports Student games in 2024.
Mirele at the Open Esports Student games in 2024. Image Credit: Russian Esports Federation
Since then, he’s been a part of several rosters, filling in for Team Spirit once before at FISSURE Universe: Episode 6, and as part of Blue and Yellow Submarine rosters.
Team Spirit are currently only scheduled to attend DreamLeague S28. In Team Spirit’s announcement, the organization seemingly revealed their attendance to BLAST Slam VI.
The post also referenced FISSURE Universe, however no FISSURE tournament has been announced at the time of writing. In November 2025 it had been revealed that FISSURE’s Serbian offices in Belgrade would shutter with 80% of staff laid off and an apparent move to Russia.
Still, Team Spirit will be without one of its key players no matter which tournaments it attends in the next six weeks.
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Featured Image Credit: ESL
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