When Natus Vincere ended in last place at the end of Tour 1, two potential consequences were obvious. The first is that the Eastern Europe Dota 2 team gets relegated to Division II, leading to a more difficult route to The International 2023. The second is that the team undergoes a roster change, and not surprising since this is what a lot of Dota 2 teams do after a dismal performance.
However, the organization managed to do the second one while making sure that the first consequence wouldn't happen. They made this possible by signing the entire roster of PuckChamp. PuckChamp was in Division II at the start of the new DPC season, and by the end of Tour 1, this team earned back a spot in Division I.
With this move, the roster is now officially NAVI and is part of Division I. The roster is composed of:
- Maksym "shigetsu" Popadynets (carry)
- Maksym "mellojul" Pnov (mid)
- Abdimalik "Malik" Sailau (offlane)
- Danial "Danial" Alibaev (support)
- Arman "Malady" Orazbayev (full support)
Division II Spot
There's no question that what NAVI did is truly a smart move. This begs the question though of what happens to their Division II spot? Does it mean another Dota 2 team gets their spot? Not necessarily because NAVI once again made an interesting action. It has established what it calls NAVI Junior composed of:
- Taras "gotthejuice" Linnikov (carry)
- Ričards "Ri4man" Kalniņš (mid)
- Yurii "pma" Prots (offlane)
- Tamir "daze" Tokpanov (support)
- Stanislav "Riddys" Mitroshkyn (full support)
The Remaining Former Member
While most of the former roster have left NAVI, one player stayed and it's Georgii “swedenstrong” Zainalabidov. NAVI is actually not holding him to anything and making him available for transfer.
What the Future Holds
With these actions, it means NAVI has fielded two teams in Eastern Europe. If the main NAVI team doesn't do too bad and the NAVI Junior does really well, that means there will be two teams from NAVI in Division I.
Some in the Dota 2 community are questioning this action by NAVI. However, looking into past roster movements, this looks to be legit and allowed. At the end of the day, it is still the organization that decides which players they’re going to support.
What about you? What did you think of NAVI’s move?
