Vladimir "RodjER" Nikogosian announced his free agency and search for a new team just two weeks after NAVI benched the entire Dota 2 team.
RodjER joined Natus Vincere in September 2020, when the organization brought aboard, initially on a trial status, the entire FlyToMoon roster. The line-up passed the trial period with flying colors, securing for NAVI a grand finals appearance at ESL One Germany 2020 and the championship title at OGA Dota PIT Season 4 towards the end of the year. Entering the first season of 2021 Dota Pro Circuit Eastern Europe regional league from the upper division, NAVI earned a spot at Singapore Major, but they weren’t able to send the team to the tournament as a few members tested positive for coronavirus.
Unfortunately for NAVI and their fans, missing the Singapore Major marked a full decline. Internal issues led to an underwhelming sixth place finish in the second season of DPC leagues and a roster shake up heading into the TI10 regional qualifiers. RodjER was one of the three players kept on the roster, although in the end that meant that his TI stage appearances streak would come to an end.
NAVI reached the TI10 Eastern Europe qualifiers semifinals, but then got knocked down to the lower bracket by HellRaisers and went on losing their first battle for survival to Team Empire. Immediately after the qualifiers, Akbar "SoNNeikO" Butaev, one of the two latest additions to the roster, left the team and NAVI placed the rest of the players on inactive status.
Natus Vincere benched players:
Alik “V-TUNE” Vorobey
Volodymyr “No[o]ne” Minenko
Roman “RAMZES666” Kushnarev
headline picture courtesy of EPICENTER
