What Happened to DOTA 2 Dendi?

Danil “Dendi” Ishutin was at one point the star player of the most popular team of all, Natus Vincere. While he’s still one of if not the most beloved player of all, he seems to have dropped off the radar entirely. So, what happened to DOTA 2 Dendi?

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The People’s Champion

It’s important to note just how much of a superstar Dendi was back in the day. For those who weren’t there, it may be difficult to envision his superstar reputation. He was there when Na’Vi won the first International and attended the next five with them. He was a crucial part of The Play. Not only that, but the image of his reaction is emblematic of it and in a way of Dota esports as a whole. He was also part of the two-man combo that was the Fountain Hook. Dendi was with Na’Vi through all of their dominant years, and through their descent into mortality.

But what happened to Dendi after that? In September 2018, he was removed from Na’Vi’s active roster for the first time. In August 2019, he left the team entirely. He was briefly part of Tigers and The Pango, but in January 2020 he founded his own team, B8. Their roster obviously included Dendi himself, but the other four members were all fresh faces. While their roster was mercurial early on, it eventually settled down around November 2021. The team (apart from Dendi, who was of course part of it) was as follows. Firstly, Alexandr “V1olent” Pak from Kazakhstan was their position one. Next, their position three was Maxim “pJon” Netrebskiy, who like Dendi is from Ukraine. Their position four was Adam “Lagoona” Chahaev, from Russia. Finally, their position five was Azamat “Gatciy” Gattsiev, also from Russia.

Blazing A New Trail

Unfortunately, on June 16th of this year, their roster was disbanded. In a video explaining the dissolution, Dendi cited the war in Ukraine as the primary factor. As he put it, “It became hard to play Dota. It affected the team gravely. We couldn’t pass neither the first nor second qualifiers to the DPC.”

In the video announcement, Dendi and his teammates gave their take on the internal dynamics of the team. “In communication and during the game something broke down,” said Gatciy. “And we couldn’t repair it anymore.” “I think with every loss, we made [the] wrong conclusions.” Dendi himself elaborated on this. “Also, the snowball effect took place.” he stated. “It usually happens when you keep losing and have no time to take a breather.” The departing players remarked that there were no hard feelings over the disbanding. Rather, they were glad to have had the opportunity, and happy to have played alongside Dendi.

While B8 may have yet to take off, it isn’t going away any time soon. Dendi has stated that he plans to form another roster. “It’s hard to build a Dota team from scratch again.” Dendi said. “But B8 is ready for difficulties, we see it as an opportunity. So guys, await some information about the new team.”

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