Whitemon Confirms No Roster Changes for Tundra Esports at The International 2025

Tundra Esports Dota 2 support Matthew “Whitemon” Filemon has confirmed there will be no roster changes for the upcoming The International 2025.

Scheduled for September 2025 in Germany, this year’s TI raised concerns among some fans about potential visa issues affecting popular players. However, Whitemon stated that all qualified teams have locked their rosters and are taking an early break to ensure smooth visa processing – including himself.

He also confirmed Tundra will not make any player substitutions, reminding everyone that Valve’s official rules strictly limit stand-ins to extreme emergencies. Issues like documentation or legal problems are explicitly excluded.

Beyond this, Whitemon shared that Tundra plans to attend a bootcamp at least one week before TI 2025 begins. Their ambition is clear: to reclaim the Aegis of Champions, which they last won by the team in 2022.

Prize pool is no longer a top priority

Regarding the current state of TI, Whitemon noted that top teams, including Tundra, no longer see TI primarily as a competition for huge prize money. Instead, they focus on the prestige of winning the Aegis, the ultimate symbol of achievement in Dota 2.

This perspective makes sense given the sharp decline in TI’s prize pool since its peak of $40 million in 2021. This peak was fueled by innovative Battle Pass sales, which Valve later replaced with the heavily criticized Compendium model.

The decline began in 2022 ($18.9 million), worsened in 2023 ($3.4 million), and hit a low in 2024 ($2.6 million) – the smallest pool since TI 2013. A further decrease is expected for 2025.

Valve later defended this strategic shift, stating it aims to provide year-round content for all players instead of focusing on exclusive Battle Passes. They hope this approach will stabilize the player base and grow the game’s ecosystem in the long run.

As compensation, professional players now have access to a robust calendar of third-party tournaments, like ESL, PGL, and EWC, offering significant prize money.