
Wildcard TI 2025 team profile: Swing for the fences
Given their jester hat logo, you might think that they would have fit better in the previous year’s TI circus theme or you might think that the NA Dota is in such shambles that a wildcard invite from Valve was needed for the region to be represented at The International 2025, and you might not be completely wrong.
However, that’s not entirely true.
Wildcard is the winner of the North American regional qualifiers for TI 2025, and they will be the only team from the region to attend TI 2025 in Hamburg this September. Unfortunately, NA Dota is at its lowest point ever. The lack of a structured system led to the almost instant demise of the scene there, and this year we had only two organisations competing throughout the season.
Most of the time, it was Shopify Rebellion, who came on top and claimed the one spot for North America at various tournaments this year. For example, they won the NA qualifiers for the Esports World Cup, and every other LAN where they were not invited, except for The International 2025. Falling short of a TI ticket made Shopify reconsider their presence in the NA Dota landscape, and so, we head to the pinnacle event of the year with the only organisation to have survived this season.
Enter Wildcard
Four of the Wildcard players are bound to make their TI debut this year. From the entire roster, it’s only Luke "Yamsun" Wang, the team’s carry player, who played on the TI stage before. He’s been fortunate to have made his debut in 2023, when TI returned to the iconic Key Arena, now known as Climate Pledge Arena, and more so, he reached the top 8 with Nouns.
But despite having four debutants, some of the Wildcard players might strike familiar to some of the fans. Danil "Bignum" Shekhovtsov is a 30 years old scene veteran who has been waiting for this moment for 13 years. Up until last year, he played with almost every Eastern European stack you could think of. You might know him from a time when Power Rangers existed, or Gambit, Cascade, F.R.I.E.N.D.S. or Team Unique and so on. Bingum switched to NA in July 2024 when he joined Apex Genesis. That’s the team Wildcard has actually signed in January this year and began its quest for a ticket to TI 2025.
Paul "Speeed" Bocchicchio is another player some of the Dota 2 fans might actually know better. Unlike the majority of today’s professional players who enter the spotlight after joining a big team, Speed became popular through his guides and educational content created for GameLeap. He grinded his way into a professional status by playing with friends, in the NA Division 2 Dota Pro Circuit a few years back, and as he confessed in an interview with PGL earlier this year, he probably wouldn’t have played professionally if it wasn’t for the DPC.

Wildcard roster
- Luke "Yamsun" Wang
- Francis "RCY" Fundemera
- Victor "Fayde" Zuev
- Danil "Bignum" Shekhovtsov
- Paul "Speeed" Bocchicchio
- coach: Ionut "BliNcc" Musat
TI 2025 forecast: Bottom of the group
Wildcard are heading into an uphill battle at TI. The group stage is going to be played in a Swiss format for the first time ever this year, but their lack of tournament experience, along with coming from years of playing mostly in NA, might get them into a lot of trouble and force them to an early exit.
The International 2025 will kick off on the 4th of September, with 16 teams aligned in a Swiss group stage. The top three teams will head to the playoffs, the bottom three will be eliminated. The teams in the middle of the pack will duke it out in an elimination round. The playoffs will unfold September 11-14 in the Barclays Arena with eight teams fighting for a shot at the Aegis of Champions. Until then, rdy.gg will bring you all the information that you need about the pinnacle event of the year and the teams competing for the most wanted trophy in the Dota 2 scene so stay tuned!
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