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.

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