Steven R. January 23, 2019
Danil "Dendi" Ishutin has found a new home. Maybe.
On its official Twitter page, Southeast Asia’s Tigers organization announced that Dendi has joined the team.
This is in addition to the signing of fellow legendary Dota 2 player Chai "Mushi" Yee Fung, who rounds out the Tigers roster following the departures of Lai "Ahjit" Jay Son and Muhammad "inYourdreaM" Rizky.
Dendi established himself as the most popular player in Dota 2 during his long run with Natus Vincere. Unfortunately, while that tenure kicked off with three consecutive grand finals berths at The International and a multitude of tournament wins, the union entered into a steady decline in 2014. Though Na`Vi tried to find success while keeping Dendi as the centerpiece of the team, no combination of players panned out for any real length of time, leading to Dendi’s removal from the team’s active roster in 2018.
Since then, Dendi has periodically appeared as a substitute player for a number of teams without settling down with any of them.
It is unclear if this latest stop for Dendi is a long-term partnership or if he is simply going to serve as a bandaid in Tigers’ midlane. Though Tigers’ initial tweet implied a long-term partnership with Dendi, Na`Vi has since tweeted that he will be joining Tigers only as a stand-in.
Regardless, it’s hard to not like this new Tigers squad that includes a number of proven veteran talents. This will definitely be a team worth watching during the upcoming major qualifiers.