Yellow Submarine

About

Yellow Submarine has been around since 2014, but most people know it as Korb3n's project—a rotating door of young Eastern European talent that has quietly produced some of the best players in the scene. Four of its alumni went on to win The International. That alone tells you everything about what this team actually is.

Early Formation & First Steps

Korb3n founded Yellow Submarine in October 2014, originally to compete in The International 2015 qualifiers. Those early years were messy—the roster was never stable, and the team went defunct in 2017 without ever making a serious dent at the top level. Then in 2020 it came back, rebuilt from scratch with a group of trialists that nobody had heard of. That roster got picked up by Team Spirit not long after, and four of those five players — Yatoro, Collapse, TORONTOTOKYO, and Miposhka — went on to win TI10. Three of them also won TI12. The submarine didn't win anything, but it handed the scene two world champions' worth of talent.

Rise and Competitive Breakthrough

The 2023 revival was the most talked-about chapter:

Satanic era (2023–2024): Korb3n signed a 15-year-old named Alan "Satanic" Gallyamov and built a new roster around him. The kid had moved from Vietnam to Serbia alone to pursue Dota 2 after finishing 9th grade. Within a year he was one of the most hyped prospects in the region, beating teams like NAVI and Virtus.pro in qualifiers and reaching the top 4 at multiple TI qualifier stages. Korb3n publicly said Satanic was worth $2 million and that he wouldn't sell him for $500k.

In September 2024 the roster disbanded when Satanic and teammate Rue got offers from Team Spirit—exactly the outcome Korb3n had been building toward all along.

BanyaPivoSamogon era (2025–present): Rather than start over from zero, Korb3n transferred the BanyaPivoSamogon stack into the Yellow Submarine tag. The new roster qualified for PGL Wallachia Season 3 but ran into visa issues and couldn't compete with their full lineup. The team has been grinding through tier 2 ever since, currently ranked 28th globally.

Playstyle and Reputation

Yellow Submarine doesn't have a fixed identity because the roster is always changing—that's sort of the point. What stays constant is Korb3n's eye for talent and his willingness to build around complete unknowns. The team competes in the mid-tier of Eastern Europe, punches above its weight in qualifiers, and occasionally upsets teams that have no business losing to them. The moment the best players outgrow it, they leave — and that's fine, because that's how it was designed.

Fun Facts

Korb3n described Satanic as a bit of a shut-in with no friends, playing Dota all day in an apartment in Serbia. He said he visited regularly just to make sure the kid was okay. It's a strange management style, but it clearly worked.

When Satanic was asked about his relationship with Yatoro after joining Team Spirit, he said he had spoken to him exactly once—about games. That was the extent of it.

A former YeS captain said in an interview that by the end of the Satanic era, the roster had grown tired of each other, and that it was inevitable the best players would get picked up. No bitterness, just a pretty honest read of how these development rosters work.

– TI10 and TI12 champions produced from alumni (Yatoro, Collapse, Miposhka)

– Top 4 in multiple TI and major qualifiers (2024)

– 1st Place at Winline Insight Season 5