posted by Malystryx.GDS,
Na'Vi have announced that Dendi will not be part of the upcoming roster for the 2018-2019 season. "Thank you for the 8 years of support and trust," says Dendi.

Dendi, General and LiL all not part of new Na'Vi roster



Danil 'Dendi' Ishutin has been a part of Na'Vi for 8 years, but he will not be competing in the new upcoming DPC season for Na'Vi. Instead his mid-lane spot will be taken by Magical, as Na'Vi hope to end their continious run of disappointing results.

Magical is currently a rank #50 Immortal player, with a whopping 926 casual games on Templar Assassin, 670 on Tinker and 564 on Storm Spirit according to his DOTABUFF profile. Whether or not Dendi will remain with the organisation or find a new team is currently undecided, but Na'Vi's CEO said Na'Vi will provide him with help in "transferring to another team".

Na'Vi announced 2 months ago that their entire TI8 Regionals roster would go into inactivity over the summer, but CEO Yevhen Zolotarov said at the time a future without Dendi in the active roster was a possibility.




The new Na'Vi roster


In a video published today, the Na'Vi CEO explained that continuing to build a team around one player was "too risky", because there was no guarantee the players would have good chemistry, both in-game and out. "Right now, we can't afford to take those kinds of risks," said Zolotarov.

Instead Akbar 'SoNNeikO' Butaev will return to the active roster and once again captain Na'Vi. Zolotarov said over the course of the last 3 years, the "bright spots" for Na'Vi were when Sonneiko was part of the team.

Joining Sonneiko is Crystallize who is the only survivor from the TI8 Regionals team, along with Evgeniy 'Blizzy' Ree, who competed for Vega Squadron last season.

Na'Vi's CEO said the team is currently 80% complete as they test out players for their position 4. Ilya 'Lil' Ilyuk who joined Na'Vi in February this year will not feature in the new roster, despite previously playing position 4 for Virtus Pro. TI8 Regionals offlaner Viktor 'GeneRaL' Nigrini and coach Alexander 'XBOCT' Dashkevich are also no longer part of the team.

Na'Vi's Roster - "80% complete" says CEO



1. Vladislav 'Crystallize' Krystanek
2. Magical (Rank #50 Immortal player) *NEW*
3. Evgeniy 'Blizzy' Ree (from Vega Squadron) *NEW*
4. TBD
5. Akbar 'SoNNeikO' Butaev (Captain) *NEW*

Out: Dendi, LiL, General and Velheor.

"The end of an era"


2018 was the second year in a row the CIS team had failed to reach The International, Valve's flagship tournament they won back in 2011. Na'Vi were the dominant force in the first 3 years of Dota 2, but have since faded into the shadows.

Through the years Na'Vi brought in many players and many captains, including the likes of Ivan 'Vanskor' Skorokhod, Akbar 'SoNNeikO' Butaev Artem 'fng' Barshack, Ivan 'Artstyle' Antonov and even Per Anders 'Pajkatt' Olsson L.. The only constant was Dendi. This new roster marks the end of an era, a fact Na'Vi included in the graphics for the announcement.

Na'Vi considered VGJ.Storm as their new roster



Zolotarov said Na'Vi had initially considered recruiting the VGJ.Storm roster, but due to the logistics of them all living in the United States, and a lack of clarity over which Regional Qualifiers they would be able to play in, Na'Vi gave up the idea. Zolotarov also said the roster was insistent on keeping their manager, Jack "KBBQ" Chen, which would have resulted in Na'Vi lacking control over the team.



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