Dendi announces new B8 org with glimpse into Dota 2’s future

Dota 2 legend Danil “Dendi” Ishutin is looking to make a grand return to Dota 2.

The former Natus Vincere mid laner announced the formation of the B8 organization with a strange yet humorous video on YouTube.

The video shows an elderly Dendi going fishing with his grandchild with a number of tongue-in-cheek references to his Dota 2 career leading to this point. It also shows what will happen with Dota 2 in the future, with former teammate Clement “Puppey” Ivanov being shown on a sign as the president of Estonia, while another reads that The International has been replaced by “The Intergalactic.”

The video closes with a tease from Dendi saying, “All good things must come to an end… But we aren’t there quite yet. It’s never too late for a comeback.”

No other details were given on what B8 is and whether it would be a Dota 2 team or something larger. It does state that there is “more info coming soon.”

Dendi has been competing in Dota 2, separate from B8

The reveal of B8 is certainly welcome news for Dota 2 fans. Dendi remains one of the most popular players in the game, courtesy of his fun personality and history with Natus Vincere.

That popularity has held up despite years of poor results. Though Dendi helped Natus Vincere become Dota 2’s original dynasty by reaching the grand finals of The International each year from 2011 to 2013, everything from 2014 on was a struggle for Natus Vincere.

Dendi remained as one of the team’s starters until 2018, at which point he was benched. He spent the 2018-2019 season serving as a substitute or trial player with a number of different teams, including Vega Squadron and The Pango, but didn’t find any particularly good results. He was officially released from Natus Vincere during The International 2019, and quickly expressed his desire to remain in the game.

In the following weeks, he discussed plans to open his own organization in the same vein as Team Secret. Around this time, he began working regularly as a caster but also returned to competitive action in December with a new team comprised of CIS veterans, simply known as MR Team.

It’s unclear whether MR Team will be rebranded as B8, but the team enjoyed positive results in December in various regional events.