Natus Vincere (Na’Vi) has announced that they have acquired the FlyToMoon (FTM) roster on trial for the duration of the upcoming OGA Dota PIT Season 3 and ESL One Germany online EU/CIS leagues.
The FTM roster consists of young players Alik “V-Tune” Vorobey, Bogdan “Iceberg” Vasilenko, Victor “GeneRaL” Nigrini, as well as longtime veterans Vladimir “RodjER” Nikogosyan and Andrey “ALWAYSWANNAFLY” Bondarenko.
Only Iceberg and ALWAYSWANNAFLY remain from the roster that FTM started when the 2019-2020 Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) season began in September last year. Both V-Tune and GeneRaL joined the team in February, while RodjER officially signed with the team yesterday after being a stand-in since early August.
Na’Vi’s acquisition of the FTM roster notably sees the return of GeneRaL and RodjER to the organization, with the former joining the team in 2016 while the latter joined in 2017. RodJEr was later traded to Virtus.pro in February 2018 while GeneRaL left to join Odium in September of that year.
Na’Vi CEO Aleksey “xaoc” Kucherov praised the FTM roster for”[maintaining] a high level of discipline within the team” despite playing without official contracts, salaries, and “other benefits of the Dota sphere.”
“They showed good results in many tournaments this year due to a well-established training process,” xaoc said in a post on the official Na’Vi website.
“This is exactly what CIS Dota is lacking, where many professional players are looking for ways to play with friends or join them at their first call. These kinds of scenarios eliminate the prospect of building something long-term. Sooner or later all teams face issues, and it’s important to be able to find the strengths to deal with them instead of running away.”
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Na’Vi notably benched four members of its previous Dota 2 roster earlier this week due to unsatisfactory results in their last tournaments. With its acquisition of the FTM squad, it has now released all players from its previous roster.
The team said that its new roster will be “assembled step-by-step,” with prospects being tested in tournament conditions before being officially invited to the team. Na’Vi stated that a “further partnership” with the FTM roster will be discussed based on their results in OGA Dota PIT Season 3 and ESL One Germany.
After being edged out of the OMEGA League European Immortal Division last month, FTM notably triumphed over 15 other tier two EU/CIS teams — including the previous Na’Vi roster — to become the champions of the league’s Divine Division.
The new Na’Vi squad will be competing in OGA Dota PIT Season 3, which will run from September 23-26, and ESL One Germany, which will run from October 5 to November 1.
The CIS Dota 2 scene is currently undergoing a major roster shuffle, with Na’Vi already well underway with its roster overhaul. Other organizations that are expected to make some changes include Virtus.pro, who may see the return of former star carry player Roman “RAMZES666” Kushnarev.
Natus Vincere Dota 2 roster:
- Alik “V-Tune” Vorobey
- Bogdan “Iceberg” Vasilenko
- Victor “GeneRaL” Nigrini
- Vladimir “RodjER” Nikogosyan
- Andrey “ALWAYSWANNAFLY” Bondarenko
READ MORE: Major CIS roster shuffle may see Ramzes return to VP
