Tundra Esports has made a last-minute roster change ahead of The International 2025, beginning on September 4th, 2025.
The UK-based esports organisation was initially competing with Matthew ‘Whitemon‘ Filemon on the starting line-up for Dota 2’s season-ending event.
On August 31st, 2025, the organisation revealed it had encountered ‘unforeseen complications in the visa application process,’ resulting in Whitemon being unable to represent the organisation at The International 2025.
As a result, Tobias ‘Tobi‘ Buchner has joined the team as a temporary stand-in. The Austrian player is no stranger to success. In July, he won FISSURE Universe 5 while representing Team Liquid.
“Every attempt was made to secure Matthew his visa, however, extenuating circumstances outside of Tundra and Matthew’s control led us to this situation,” said a statement from Tundra Esports on social media.
The organisation reveals Tobi has been practising as part of the team in the final days of August, before the group stage of the event begins on September 4th.
Tundra Esports is widely regarded as one of the best Dota 2 teams in the world, with regular appearances in the latter stages of tournaments. In August, it finished second at Clavision Masters 2025: Snow-Ruyi. In July, the team secured the BLAST Slam III title with a victory over Team Falcons.
The International 2025 Team Changes
Outside of Tundra’s last-minute substitution, this year’s edition of The International has seen teams withdraw, resulting in Valve introducing teams that failed to qualify for the event.
Following a disagreement between players, Gaimin Gladiators withdrew from the event, leaving Valve to find a replacement to ensure 16 teams are competing.
On August 28th, 2025, Valve announced Yakutou Brothers as the replacement for Gaimin Gladiators, becoming the third Chinese team to compete at the event. Yakutou Brothers joins Team Tidebound and Xtreme Gaming as the region’s representatives.
