Yatoro on Facets removal: “The problem is they didn't do it well”

We’ve been able to catch up with Illya "Yatoro" Mulyarchuk after Team Spirit’s elimination in the top six at ESL One Birmingham 2026 and pick his brain a bit on the recent 7.41 patch.

From straight out calling the patch “shit” to not missing the facets at all and sharing his frustration on how the hero changes were made, Yatoro didn’t hold back.

I'd like to go straight into the patch discussion and ask you how much different the safe lane feels now, after the change to the creeps' movement speed and all the manipulation shenanigans that usually happen in the side lanes.

I would say that the 7 and a half minute change is big for heroes like Templar Assassin and Morph, who are going to farm the Ancients earlier. But it's not a big change for like semi-carry heroes who don’t want to hit the Ancients. It's more important to take lane control now and put pressure on the enemy.

The offlane needs to switch the farm pattern now. The offlaner has ancients now, he is farming stacks, and then he goes to create some space on the map. When he leaves, you send your carry there, abandon the bottom lane, and just try to reach the networth that you need in the top lane.

You're famous for being able to play anything virtually in the carry role. When a new patch like this drops, in the middle of a tournament, do you lean more toward comfort heroes, or do you go for what seems like a good meta pick?

I would say you always need to play with meta heroes, because they will just be stronger, and you have more chances to win. If the strong heroes are banned, but you have the last pick, you need to adapt and play on some of your signature heroes.

In terms of Facets removal, is it a big relief that they are finally gone, or do you see it as an unnecessary change?

I think the problem with this change is that they didn't do it well. There are heroes like Monkey King, for example, who has both facets integrated in the hero now. Anti-Mage got nothing, zero facets.

That needs to be fixed, and they need to do a lot of balancing because right now we have some heroes that are much, much stronger than the rest.

How different does the team feel on stage compared to scrims or studio performances right now that you have Larl back and you are back in the full formula? Are you feeling confident moving forward?

Yes, definitely. I think we had a good chance at Wallachia, and we also had a good chance here, in Birmingham, but we just made a couple of mistakes, which cost us the win. Moving forward, we will try to improve our game and try to grow as a team in the next tournaments.

Fire questions

Describe Patch 7.41 in one word.

Shit.

On a scale of 1 to 10: How much do you miss the Facets?

Zero.

The most broken hero right now is...?

Alchemist.

How many hours of sleep did you get after the patch dropped?

Ten?

More interviews from ESL One Birmingham 2026

• Tundra bzm: “We figured out some good heroes before other teams”
• Aurora Mikoto: “We are kind of lagging behind with learning the new patch"
• MOUZ Seleri: “Chen is unplayable. Why does Venomancer have 5 spells?”