On June 22, the Russian announced his return to competitive Dota 2 play under the Team Empire banner. Before joining Empire, his last competitive game was as a member of felt in April 2022.

“This season I’ll play for Team Empire. We’ll see what happens later. Tomorrow we have a match against HellRaisers, come and cheer for us!”

The offlaner was thrilled to play for Empire during the DPC 2022 Tour 3, and other upcoming tournaments. Unfortunately, his stay with the team was immediately cut short by his volition.

After one day of competing with the team, the 30-year-old chose to step down. He believed his performance was hurting the team, pointing out that he did not get the excitement he hoped to while competing.

The veteran asked the team to replace him, saying that he does not want to play competitive Dota 2 anymore.

“I’m in full apathy from these games as if I don’t understand what’s happening, and play badly the game I don’t really want to play competitively. I feel like I only make it worse for Empire, so I asked them to pick another guy, who at least launched the game in the last two weeks, aside from officials.”
Illidan’s first run with Team Empire was as a stand-in for Arslan “Retrograde” Shadzhanov. Their initial run was a success, as he helped them win two games.

Unfortunately, things have gone downhill for them as they have lost their last three games. In their last DPC EEU Division II game, they got swept by HellRaisers in the best-of-3 series.

Despite starting the tournament with a 2-1 series win over X3, they currently sit seventh in the standings. With only three weeks of action left, there is no chance of Team Empire advancing to Division I for the next DPC season.

Given how things have turned out, Team Empire will be looking for another carry player to replace Illidan. Their next match is against PuckChamp on July 1, which gives them a few days to find a suitable replacement.

It is worth noting that Team Empire might have a difficult time selecting a player seeing as the season has already started. Most of the “good” players are likely tied to contracts for the rest of the season, which suggests that whoever gets chosen might not be a long-term pick.

With Division I qualification of their reach, Team Empire will be fighting for a spot in the current division. A top-six finish will guarantee that for the Russian team.

Meanwhile, Illadan has not revealed what he will do in the future. However, there is a chance that he might take up streaming full-time.