Natus Vincere bench Chuvash, bring on Zayac after Mumbai loss

gabhernandez Published 26/04/2019

Natus Vincere has benched Evgeniy “Chuvash” Makarov a few days after the team’s third-place finish in ESL One Mumbai.

Bakyt “Zayac” Emilzhanov, who recently played for teams such as The Pango and Vega Squadron, will replace Chuvash for upcoming tournaments with Na`Vi. The duration of the inactive status of Chuvash is unannounced.

Chuvash’ status might be similar to Danil “Dendi” Ishutin’s inactive status, allowing the player to permanently take a position with other teams through a loan agreement. This setup was an effect of the player’s specified contract terms.

“It happens sometimes that a team reaches a certain limit and in order to progress further, it is necessary to make some changes,” Na`Vi general manager Igor “caff” Sydorenko said. “Chuvash is a good player and a teammate, I wish him good luck and I am sure he will be able to fully open up as a player in a new team.”

Na`Vi made an impressive run at ESL One Mumbai as it sent eventual champion Keen Gaming to the lower bracket. The team soon found a rematch in the lower bracket finals. Keen Gaming won the series in a clean 2-0 fashion and moved on to dominate the grand finals.

Na`Vi was rewarded $35,000 for finishing in third place.

However, Na`Vi hasn’t shown great results in the current Dota Pro Circuit. The team was able to eke points out in just one minor and one major tournament, respectively. Those points were not enough to secure a slot in the latest top 12 standings which provide direct invites to The International 2019.

The team did not make the cut in the MDL Disneyland Paris Major as Virtus.pro and Team Empire snatched the two slots through the CIS regional qualifier.

With only two tournaments remaining before The International, Na`Vi’s hopes of bouncing back have translated to its decision to make a roster change.

Na`Vi captain Akbar “SoNNeikO” Butaev will also rejoin the team. SoNNeikO missed the ESL One Mumbai tournament due to health issues and was temporarily replaced by Mihail “Misha” Agatov.

Read Also

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 ...

Dota 2

Team Spirit wins TI15 to lift a record third Aegis of Champions Michael Hassall Team Spirit has defeated TEAM VISION in the grand finals of TI15, The International 2025. In a full five-game series on Aug. 23, Spirit pulled out all the stops and narrowly defeated an incredible VISION team in a back-and-forth series in Shanghai, China. With Spirit’s victory, Illya "Yatoro" Mulyarchuk and Magomed "Collapse" Khalilov become the first ever three-time TI champions, and Team Spirit becomes the first ever organization to lift ...

Dota 2

The International 2026 (TI15) Finals Preview and Predictions Michael Hassall The International 2026, TI15, has reached its final day, and just three teams remain in the fight for the Aegis of Champions. With the lower bracket final and Grand Final still to come, everything comes down to one final day of Dota 2 action. The lower bracket finalists will first battle for the right to reach the main event’s final series, while the winner will advance to face the upper-bracket ...

Dota 2

TI15’s opening ceremony weaves a tapestry of emotion for Valve’s storied title Michael Hassall The main stage of The International 2026, TI15, kicked off today with the traditional opening ceremony heralding the start of the biggest celebration of Dota 2 on the calendar. On Aug. 20 fans in Shanghai, China, and at home, were treated to a rousing 11-minute series of performances and video packages, introducing TI15’s main stage show. Here’s how the magic unfolded: The ceremony began with a graphic which quite literally ...

Dota 2

The International 2026 (TI15) Playoffs preview and predictions Michael Hassall The Group Stage of The International 2026, TI15, is in the books and we’ve whittled down 16 of the world’s best Dota 2 teams to just eight finalists. One of these talented lineups will be the ones lifting the Aegis of Champions come Sunday, Aug. 23, but until then, there’s plenty of playoff shenanigans that could go on. Below we’ve put together a preview of the upcoming Playoff Games, along ...

News

The Esports Nations Cup Has Been Postponed to November 2027 Ben Boland The 2026 Esports Nations Cup has been suspended until 2027. The Esports Foundation announced the delay on August 18, citing ongoing regional uncertainty. The inaugural competition was scheduled to take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, comprising over 100 national teams and featuring 16 different games, including League of Legends. According to the Esports Foundation, this decision follows ongoing developments in the region and consultation with key stakeholders. Moving the event ...