Dendi not kicked from B8, but the team is still in trouble

William Davis Published 27/10/2021

After some miscommunication on social media, Dendi fans should be glad to know that the star player remains on the B8 Dota 2 roster. 

On October 26, Dota 2 sponsor B8 posted an image macro of a soldier jumping out of a plane. The plane was labeled as the B8 organization while the paratrooper was labeled as Dendi. The image could easily be mistaken as a retirement announcement for legendary mid-laner Danil “Dendi” Ishutin. But in truth, it’s actually B8’s way of drawing attention to a strange management problem.

According to further statements made by B8, the meme is meant to reference a management disagreement that could affect the team’s 2022 Dota Pro Circuit season. The manager who owns the squad’s Dota Pro Circuit slot appears to be withholding it from the team. B8 finished the second 2021 DPC lower division season in sixth place. This guarantees the B8 organization a spot in the first 2022 DPC league. But if the dissenting executive gets his way, the team could be forced to start its DPC career all over again. 

This Dota Pro Circuit rules involving slot ownership are not publicly available. It’s not clear how one person can withhold a team’s DPC slot from the five players who earned it. Only B8, Valve, and tournament organizer ESL know the full specifics. If the meddling manager succeeds in holding B8’s slot, the team will have to qualify for the lower division through the open regional qualifiers.

B8 Dota 2 roster

The majority of B8’s Dota 2 roster switched to inactive after failing to qualify for The International 10. Including benched players, B8’s Dota 2 team is as follows.

• Alimzhan “watson” Islambekov
• Danil “Dendi” Ishutin
• Yaroslav “Limitless” Parshin
• Sergey “[T]SA” Timchenko
• Vladislav “DkFogas” Frolov

B8 generally performs poorly at big tournaments, but the team’s fans aren’t as concerned about the team’s placements. They want to see their favorite mid-laner play Dota 2, and Dendi is more than happy to oblige. As long as he is on the team, B8 will continue to be a fan-favorite roster in Eastern Europe. Even if Dendi suddenly disappeared from competitive Dota 2 play, he would remain one of Dota 2’s most iconic faces and names for a very long time.

Read Also

Dota 2

Yandex to repeat?: BLAST SLAM VIII preview, predictions, and more Michael Hassall If you can believe it, we’re already on the eighth edition of BLAST SLAM, as BLAST SLAM VIII kicks off tomorrow (Sep. 29) pitting 16 of the world’s best Dota 2 teams against each other in what promises to be the first big challenge of this young season. Let’s face it: At PGL Wallachia, we were missing a lot of the heavy hitters. No TI15 champs, no PARIVISION, not BetBoom, ...

Dota 2

Unstoppable Yandex crush NAVI in one-sided PGL Wallachia finals Michael Hassall Team Yandex has swept the grand finals of the PGL Wallachia Season 9 Dota 2 tournament, defeating Natus Vincere (NAVI) in a 3-0 drubbing this past weekend (Sep. 27). As predicted, the revitalized Yandex, hot off the signing of former Team Falcons star Ammar "ATF" Al-Assaf, crushed their youthful opponents in a three-game sweep in the best-of-five finals. Here’s how it happened: After upsetting the star-studded LGD Gaming roster (albeit ...

Dota 2

Team Yandex to win it all? PGL Wallachia Season 9 Finals preview and predictions Michael Hassall The first big event after TI15, PGL Wallachia Season 9, wraps up this Sunday, Sep. 27, and it’s set to be a hell of a show. After a solid week of action, with some surprise eliminations along the way, we’re down to just three teams from the original 16. Team Yandex, LGD Gaming, and Natus Vincere (NAVI) remain, having battled through some big upsets to get there. Yandex are hot ...

Dota 2

MidOne to Play for Team Liquid at BLAST Slam 8, Replacing Nisha: Permanent or Stand-in? Owen Harsono Like most other Dota 2 teams, Team Liquid have also undergone roster changes after The International 2026, replacing Ace for Wisper. However, a swap in offlaners wasn’t the end, as veteran mid-laner MidOne has been registered under the team ahead of BLAST Slam 8, taking Nisha’s spot. Is MidOne only acting as a stand-in, or is this going to be a permanent move? Here’s what we know. On September 25, ...

Dota 2

PGL Wallachia Season 9 Playoffs preview and predictions Michael Hassall PGL Wallachia Season 9 is the first major tournament since the 2025/2026 Dota 2 season came to its conclusion at TI15, and with the roster shuffle still, well, shuffling, and top teams skipping the event while they get things finalized, it’s been an unusual tournament so far. With some surprising names in the playoffs (especially if you’ve been following the scene for the rest of the year) and the absence ...

Dota 2

ESIC hand down ruling in EWC Dota match-fixing case: Lifetime ban for coach as DarkMago gets a nickel Michael Hassall South American Dota 2 player Gonzalo "DarkMago" Herrera will be banned for five years from competitive Dota 2, with his coach Juan "Vintage" Angulo banned permanently, following the results of an The Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) investigation. ESIC handed down the findings and rulings from its investigation into match-fixing allegations leveled at members of South American Dota 2 team PlayTime during the Esports World Cup on Sep. 10, in a ...

News

Polystrike Turns a Dota 2 Mod Into a Standalone Tactical Shooter Hannan Mundia After the community-made mod found success within the community, developer and publisher Robin Entertainment has decided to turn Polystrike into a proper standalone game. Community-made mods of games finding success within the respective game’s community is nothing new. However, only a handful of those mods are able to go on and become a standalone game. One of the more recent examples is The Forgotten City, which started as a mod ...