Winstrike Team drops Dota 2 team after LA Major qualifier flop

Steven Rondina Published 20/02/2020

Winstrike Team isn’t satisfied with the results its Dota 2 team has been posting and is making big changes as a result.

The organization announced the release of every member of its Dota 2 roster. This includes all five players,= as well as coach Arsenij “ArsZeeqq” Usov and manager Marie Gunina.

“I do want to apologize to those people who were supporting our Dota 2 roster. There is only one word to describe our recent performance: awful,” Winstrike Team’s Andrej Kvasnevskij said on the team’s official website. “The path we chose in November did not bring results. Consequently, we decided to make a complete break with our current lineup, from now on all the players are free agents.”

The organization last competed in the open qualifiers to the ESL One Los Angeles Major with the following lineup:

Alik “V-Tune” Vorobey
Andrey “Afoninje” Afonin
Vasily “AfterLife” Shishkin
Ilya “ALOHADANCE” Korobkin
Vladimir “RodjER” Nikogosyan

Afoninje and V-Tune were brought into the teams as stand-ins. Regardless, the players are now free to seek opportunities elsewhere. It is unclear if the players intend to stick together or if they are each looking to find new teams individually.

Winstrike Team’s Dota 2 woes continue after LA Major stumble

Winstrike Team’s entire history in Dota 2 thus far has fit an unfortunate pattern. The organization consistently finds itself with star-studded rosters that underperform.

Winstrike first entered Dota 2 by signing FlyToMoon, a squad that entered The International 2018 as a dark horse to win the event. Instead, the team was eliminated in the second round of the lower bracket.

This was followed by an ugly 2019 that saw the side suffer from almost constant roster issues. While it regularly brought in proven talent ranging from former HellRaisers player Milan “MiLAN” Kozomara to longtime Virtus.pro support Ilya “Lil” Ilyuk, no combination of players yielded results.

In late 2019, the organization formed a new roster comprised of top CIS talent. The team never managed to qualify for a Dota 2 tournament.

Despite this, Winstrike stated it plans to continue on in Dota 2, but it doesn’t feel likely that the organization will find a winning combination of players with the CIS scene as crowded as it is.

Steven Rondina

About Steven Rondina

Steven Rondina is a true lifelong gamer. His earliest memories are of playing video games, and he has continued playing them throughout his life with no plans to stop any time soon. Steven’s favorite franchises in gaming include Pokemon, Dark Souls, and Counter-Strike. He has previously published with Bleacher Report and other gaming outlets.

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