Tales from the Fountain: That time someone got a rampage

It’s the coolest thing in Dota 2. It’s the moment that gets immortalised in every highlight reel forever. The Rampage.

The story of the first rampage on record isn't just about stats; it's about someone who basically wrote the rulebook on how to become a legend with five consecutive kills. It's a story that starts before Dota 2 was even truly a thing everyone knew about.

A historic pew-pew

August 17, 2011. It’s the first day of the very first The International, a $1,600,000 tournament that, at that time, not many even thought it was real. It was Valve’s way of revealing Dota 2 to the public. It happened over the course of just five days at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany, and among the 16 participating teams, there was OK.Nirvana.int, a truly international team featuring Clinton "Fear" Loomis, Dominik "Lacoste" Stipić, Per "Pajkatt" Lille, Alexandru "ComeWithMe" Craciunescu, and Theeban "1437" Siva.

They didn’t win the tournament, but their 18-year-old offlaner, Pajkatt, wrote history by landing the first official rampage in Dota 2. It happened in the group stage against the French team Virus Gaming. There was no huge crowd roar for this moment, no flashy effects, just the in-game announcer saying it out loud: “RAMPAGE.”

OK.Nirvana.int placed 7th/8th at TI1, but interestingly enough, Pajaktt remained the only one to have played Sniper through the whole event. More so, despite his elimination in the second round of the lower bracket in the main event, Pajkatt ended the very first TI with the highest GPM, 522.

The main event flex: XBOCT

A year later, The International moved to the US and became the Dota 2 flagship tournament. The defending champions, NAVI received a direct invite and went all the way up to the grand finals, but couldn’t defend their title. However, their carry, Oleksandr "XBOCT" Dashkevych became the first to land a rampage in the TI main event. It happened in the upper bracket quarterfinal against the Chinese Team DK. XBOCT was playing Anti-Mage, a hero that would become his signature.

Breaking the rules: Yatoro

For 10 whole years, an unwritten rule held: nobody could land more than one rampage per TI. Then came Illya "Yatoro" Mulyarchuk at TI10 in 2021 and said, "your rule is boring."

Team Spirit's whole run was an underdog story, but Yatoro decided to speed-run the legend part.

First, he styled on Invictus Gaming in the upper bracket with a Morphling, then, in the lower bracket, facing the same IG with elimination on the line, he did it again, but on Draw Ranger. He didn’t stop there. Yatoro brought Team Spirit into the grand finals with another rampage secured in the lower bracket finals against Team Secret.

A decade-long "rule" broken. Yatoro didn't just get a highlight; he got the entire highlight reel at TI 2021, and with it, he also claimed his very first Aegis of Champions.

A lot more can be said about Yatoro and why he might be the best carry to have graced the game, but about that, perhaps on a different occasion.