Dota 2: Na`Vi bid farewell to captain SoNNeikO

Underperforming during the previous DPC season, then to TI9’s lackluster performance and a disappointing start to the season, Natus Vincere was knocked out of the Major qualifiers early and also lost his first Minor. That forced the Ukrainian organization to make important changes.

“Dota has always had problems with the limited number of CIS captains, and the world at large, but this vicious cycle needs to be broken,” Na`Vi said in a farewell announcement to captain Akbar “SoNNeiKO “Butaev. Despite being considered one of the best supports from the CIS region, a player full of talent and passion, SoNNeiKo is known for his “hot temper”, according to the legendary carry of Na`Vi, XBOCT.

SoNNeikO joined Natus Vincere in 2015 and he had the opportunity to grow from pub gamer to captain while playing with XBOCT and Dendi. He has been the mainstay in all of Natus Vincere’s squad over the years. However, SoNNeikO has never found the unity and success formula for its members.

“As soon as TI ended, the problems between the captain and some of the players became apparent. We discussed and made a joint decision to keep the core of the team and resolve these issues. It seems that after Pasha arrived, things settled down, and the pre-qualification bootcamp went well.

However, the first difficulties in the official matches reappeared and it was still the same old personal conflicts that the team decided to leave it alone in the past. Everything fell apart quickly. As a result, we did not qualify for the Minor, prior to the Major.

The team is faced with a choice: either change the bulk of the roster, give the captain everything to build from scratch, or change leadership. Some believe in Akbar as much as we do, but we also see great potential in the players that have been acquired during this time, and it will be easier to find another leader with a more flexible approach.” , Na`Vi CEO, Yevhen Zolotarov spoke.