Akbar “SoNNeikO” Butaev has left Natus Vincere's Dota 2 squad less than two months after rejoining the team. SoNNeikO did not provide an explanation for his departure from the team, while Na'Vi just expressed gratitude for his time with the group and wished him well in his future pursuits. After spending little over a year away from Na'Vi, SoNNeikO returned to the organization in May. In October 2019, he was benched before joining Ninjas in Pyjamas and afterwards being signed by AS Monaco Gambit
Despite helping Gambit qualify for the WePlay Esports
AniMajor after the second season of the 2021 Dota Pro Circuit, both SoNNeikO
and No[o]ne decided to depart the squad. SoNNeikO was initially considering
leaving the squad during the regular season, but was persuaded to stay. Both
players were only signed until the conclusion of the second season and chose to
join Na'Vi rather than compete with Gambit at the Major. After that Na'Vi began
training for The International 10 regional qualifiers, however the team was unable
to meet that standard and placed sixth overall. SoNNeikO opted to quit the team
and pursue other options as a result of this and some alleged conflict within
the squad.
Andrey "Mag" Chipenko, Na'Vi's coach, did remark
on the captain's departure, stating that it was not due to poor performance,
but rather because of the team's structure, which had so many veteran players.
On Twitch, Mag remarked that there were more diverse
viewpoints, different schemes, and Akbar likes to assemble, to be in command. It's
possible that he'd want to play with younger players. It was the first time he
had a team with the captain's level of experience. Getting a word in was
difficult enough. He further said that he believe SoNNeikO is more at ease when
he is in complete charge of the process, with only one person sharing
responsibilities.
With this move, Na'Vi is left with No[o]ne, RAMZES, and
RodjER, three members of Virtus Pro's dominant core from 2018 to 2019, as well
as Alik "V-Tune" Vorobey, a talented young player. Mag also revealed
that the new squad will most likely assemble and compete in a tournament before
TI10, which takes place in October 2021.