Dota 2 player Danil "Dendi" Ishutin has officially left Natus Vincere and is now officially part of The Pango. Dendi had initially been on loan to The Pango from Na'Vi.
Dendi initially dabbled with Counter-Strike, but later moved to Warcraft III where he discovered his love for competition. It was here when he discovered Dota and picked up the game rather quickly. His first professional foray into esports started with Wolker.Gaming. He then moved to Kingsurf.international before joining DTS.
When Dota 2 entered the scene, Dendi joined Na'Vi and began the road to becoming one of the world's best teams. With Dendi, Na'Vi won the top title at The International 2011. While they were unable to get that title again, Na'Vi dominated a number of tournaments in 2012 and 2013 and even finished in second place during the TI tournaments for those years.
During this time, Dendi became the face of Dota 2. In addition to his rather goofy demeanor, Dendi cemented his reputation as an elite player that had tremendous skills along with innovative picks and builds. For example, he pioneered the force staff and blink dagger build, particularly for his signature Pudge.
Along with then teammate Clement "Puppey" Ivanov, Dendi performed the now infamous fountain hook. This same move allowed Na'Vi a comeback victory against TongFu to win their match.
However after TI3, things would not go well for Na'Vi. After that, the team slowly dropped to the lower ranks, eventually failing to qualify for TI7. Na'Vi even failed to reach the regional qualifiers for TI8.
Thus, after eight years of being part of Na'Vi and playing the mid position, Dendi was removed from active roster and placed in an inactive status in late 2018.
Initially Dendi was on loan with The Pango. However, Na'Vi officially announced on August 10 that Dendi had become a free agent.
From now on @DendiBoss becomes a free agent!
— NAVI (@natusvincere) August 10, 2019
?: https://t.co/vNZKa6AXQp pic.twitter.com/OVxNpPyVJH
According to a statement from Na'Vi, Dendi had appealed to management asking for the early termination of his contract. Considering his contribution to Na'Vi, the organization approved his request and released him from his contractual obligations.
The Pango was likely hoping that with Dendi, they would be able to get a chance for TI9. However, with only days to prepare, it was clear that Pango would have a hard time and the team failed to qualify for TI9. However with Dendi now officially part of their roster, we'll see how the team performs in the upcoming new season.
