Artour "Arteezy" Babaev is a legendary player and one of the best carries in Dota 2 history. He was at the top all his career. He played in the best clubs in the world, took high places at prestigious tournaments, and demonstrated aggressive play. However, Arteezy didn't manage to become a champion. Artour won no major tournaments. Second place was his maximum, but Arteezy remains a great player. It was another legendary player, Jacky "EternaLEnVy" Mao, who brought Artour to Dota 2. With him, Arteezy achieved his first success, and a year later, he was signed by the major North American esports organization, Evil Geniuses. Then Artour joined Team Secret and couldn't decide which team he would like to play for, moving from one to another. Finally, the star-carry chose Evil Geniuses. He is still playing for this team. Last year, Arteezy took second place at majors twice as part of Evil Geniuses, but the team failed at The International 10. In 2022, the EG roster was transformed, and now Artour is going to try his hand in TI once again. Read what path Arteezy went through in the material of Cybersport.Metaratings.ru.
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Arteezy's main achievements
Arteezy started to play Dota 2 professionally in 2013, and his esports career has lasted for over nine years. He hasn't won any major tournament in all that time. We should note that Artour had many wins, but none of them was at a Major or The International. These tournaments are considered to be big, but Arteezy has never been good at them. He took third place at The International twice, was second at majors thrice, and took third place at majors four times.
The victory was always close, but Artour didn't reach it. It is surprising, considering how long he's been in the professional arena (and all that time playing for the tier-1 teams). The community even made up a legend that Arteezy is cursed, therefore it is impossible to win with him. Nevertheless, he has earned quite a lot. His total gain is almost $2.5 million due to prize money. And Artour's best achievements are as follows.
- The International 2014 — 3 place;
- The International 2018 — 3 place;
- Kyiv Major 2017 — 3-4 place;
- Boston Major 2016 — 3-4 place;
- Shanghai Major 2016 — 3 place;
- Frankfurt Major 2015 — 3 place;
- WePlay AniMajor 2021 — 2 place;
- ONE Esports Singapore Major 2021 — 2 place;
- DreamLeague Leipzig Major 2020 — 2 place.
Artour's childhood
Artour was born on July 1, 1996, in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, but spent his childhood and youth in the other country. When the future athlete was two years old, his parents decided to move to Canada. They believed this state would provide their son with a more decent future. Later they will explain that at that time, there was a difference in whether to grow up in North America or Uzbekistan.
When we moved to Canada, I spoke Russian. Then I started to learn English and forgot Russian, I couldn't switch from one language to the other. I knew Russian quite well, and even now I understand everything people are saying. My parents speak Russian with me at home, and I answer them in English. It probably looks very strange.
Like most boys, Artour was keen on playing computer games as a child. They were much more pleasant than sports or outdoor games. As time went by, this passion increased, and Artour started to play all day long. But he had to "bring good marks from school." That was the boy's contract with his parents.
Of course, Artour's favorite game was Dota 2 (before it was DotA and StarCraft 2). He played well for his age. He also studied in a Canadian school and attended additional Russian courses. Later, he decided to quit these courses to have more time for playing.
In 2012, Artour saw a video where Denti defeated his opponents and won the game in a professional arena alone. Then "something just clicked in him," and he decided he wanted to play as cool.
I had played a lot before but I had never thought about how I did it. After that video, I started watching the recordings of my matches and analyzing where I made mistakes. I watched a huge number of Chinese teams' matches, for instance, almost every match of Tong Fu. I began to treat Dota 2 not as a game but as a competitive discipline.
Then Artour decided to intensify his training. He woke up at 5 o'clock every day to practice before school. When Artour came home, he, first of all, sat in front of his computer and trained again. He believed that he would achieve some results in Dota only due to such a severe regime.
The beginning of Artour's esports career
Arteezy played a lot at various North American tournaments and was an active participant in the local popular forum. At the same time, he was arrogant and bold, that's why he was noticed. Another Canadian, Jacky "EternaLEnVy" Mao, turned his attention to Artour. He invited Arteezy to play for his team (Kaipi), and Arteezy agreed. They won several tournaments that summer. Everything turned out well, but in the fall, Artour had to return to school routine, and he left the team.
Several months later, Arteezy joined Take Five to participate in the MLG Columbus tournament. This championship was Artour's first triumph: his team took first place by defeating world grands including Team DK and Natus Vincere. It was at that moment that Arteezy announced himself and became considered a first-tier player.
In January 2014, Arteezy assembled a new team. It included UNiVeRsE, Fear, ppd, and zai: a star roster. The team was called S A D B O Y S and immediately became one of the strongest teams in North America. A month later, it was signed by Evil Geniuses esports organization.
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Evil Geniuses played excellently that season and got a direct invite to The International 2014. Before the main tournament of the year started, they were considered the main favorites to win (or one of them). There was a reason for that. Evil Geniuses started their performance at TI with a winning streak which didn't end until the team got into the upper bracket finals.
EG lost that game. It happened because of Arteezy who couldn't control his strongest character, Naga Siren. Artour became tilted which prevented him from playing the losers' final properly. Because of that, Evil Geniuses had one more loss and left The International 2014, taking third place. Team captain, Peter "ppd" Dager, still thinks that if Artour had kept it together, he would have lifted Aegis two days later. After the tournament, things got heated in the team, and the guys started to argue with each other. Arteezy decided to leave because of that.
EG needed a rebirth through a roster change. It was the only way it could play at the same level again. We couldn't do anything with that roster. I wish to win so badly that such things as temporary friendships and all that stuff don't matter to me.
Arteezy joined Team Secret which had a star roster again. The team won four international tournaments in half a year, and 46% of Dota 2 users believed in its victory at The International 2015. Arteezy's main aim was to take a higher place than Evil Geniuses, but he didn't fulfill it. That year, Team Secret took only 7-8 places, and Artour's former teammates became the champions of The International.
When they won TI, I smiled. I usually don't smile. Even when Team Secret and I won LAN, I didn't feel anything. Even when I defeated EG in two grand finals, I didn't care. But when I saw how my former teammates were winning, especially Fear, I stopped feeling envious and just smiled. Though I am jealous. They won TI.
Evil Geniuses or Team Secret?
To everyone's surprise, Arteezy decided to leave Team Secret after the loss. He joined Evil Geniuses again, and the team fans weren't happy about that. By that time, Artour had made too many mistakes in the professional arena and wasn't considered one of the best carries in the world. Artour had to prove otherwise. Arteezy's second coming to EG was marked by winning three of the season's five major tournaments. Evil Geniuses returned to the top.
Artour is a clown but first of all, he is a top-notch player. He can think independently, works hard, and is incredibly dedicated. The way he behaves suits our team. At TI4, I had a lot of fun playing in the EG roster with him.
But things didn't go smoothly in Evil Geniuses. After the winning streak, they began to lose again. The team seemed to fade with each tournament. Serious conflicts arose again, and the players said they could not find common ground. Arteezy decided to leave Evil Geniuses. Which team could he join? Of course, Team Secret!
But Artour played in Team Secret only till the end of the season. After the failure at TI6, he returned to Evil Geniuses again, but that was a completely different team. Fear and ppd left the team, and Sumail became the new star. He assembled a new team and made it fundamentally different from the previous one. Now there was no leader, and all tasks and responsibilities were divided between five players. Everyone contributed to victory and could participate in decision-making.
Arteezy liked this approach, as he was playing for Evil Geniuses for five years, and this factor didn't change. In the next few years, Evil Geniuses and Artour achieved great success. He established himself as one of the best carries in the world, while EG showed good stable results at most of the major Dota 2 tournaments. Evil Geniuses took 9-12 place at The International 2017 and became the third a year later. Then Arteezy repeated his best achievement. In 2019, Evil Geniuses took 5-6 places, after which it overcame changes again. But Artour didn't quit the team. He decided he would play for Evil Geniuses till the very end.
Arteezy's recent results
2020 started extremely well for Arteezy. He took second place at the first major, by losing 2-3 to Team Secret in the grand finals. It was one of those cases when Evil Geniuses almost became the champion of a major tournament, but it wasn't lucky. Then the organization hibernated because the coronavirus era began. All teams played only at online tournaments in their regions (because of the ping), and EG didn't want to play at senseless tournaments against North American teams. Therefore, Evil Geniuses didn't perform in the professional arena for a long time, with few exceptions. This is how 2020 went.
In 2021, the DPC cycle resumed, and Evil Geniuses and Arteezy won the regular championship and showed unbelievable results at the major. The team easily made it to the grand finals where it was to play against Invictus Gaming. Evil Geniuses dominated the game 2-0 and were on the verge of victory, but missed it and then lost two consecutive maps. It prevented the team from becoming a champion once again. It took only second place.
During the second season, Evil Geniuses showed a decent play at the regular championship and then played well at the major, though didn't manage to win again. Evil Geniuses made it to the grand finals but were destroyed by Chinese team PSG.LGD with a score of 3-0. But that didn't stop Evil Geniuses from being one of the main contenders to win The International 10. Many believed in this victory, but the team showed its worst result for a long time, taking 9-12 place.
2022 did not start well for Evil Geniuses either. The team failed at the beginning of the season but then took third place during the regular championship and second place during the regional finals. Because of that, the team earned a good amount of DPC points. The DPC spring season was much more successful. Now the team has a 5-1 stats, and only one win separates them from trying their luck in the majors again. Now Evil Geniuses are at their best, so they should show a good result at the tournament.
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