Danil "Dendi" Ishutin’s esports career started in WarCraft 3, which saw him compete in tournaments around his hometown. He eventually found his way to Defense of the Ancients and performed well.
After competing in regional leagues, he took a big step up in 2008 when he joined DTS, a team that hosted many top CIS players at the time. The team performed well in European DotA events, and notably took second place at the 2010 Electronic Sports World Cup.
Ahead of the launch of Dota 2, Dendi joined Natus Vincere. The team tinkered with its roster but made a huge splash by winning The International 2011, which was followed by another top placement in the Electronic Sports World Cup 2011. These victories, coupled with his strong play on fan favorite hero Pudge, made him the most popular player in Dota 2’s early years.
As tournaments and leagues became more frequent, Dendi and Natus Vincere enjoyed regular success. These victories, coupled with grand finals berths at The International 2012 and The International 2013, established Natus Vincere as the greatest Dota 2 team of the era and cemented Dendi as the most popular western player in the game.
Natus Vincere began a bit of a decline in 2014. Despite a strong start to the year, the team posted weaker finishes in events in the summer. This culminated with an eighth-place finish for the team at The International 2014, which led to the departure of longtime Na`Vi captain Clement “Puppey” Ivanov.
Dendi remained with Natus Vincere, but the team went into a sharp decline in the years that followed. The team failed to regularly qualify for larger events and Valve-sponsored majors, and posted forgettable performances in the ones it did qualify for. Dendi attended The International 2015 and 2016, but was swiftly eliminated from both. Natus Vincere and Dendi missed their first TI in 2017.
The team went on a bit of an upswing to start the new season and received a number of invitations to Dota Pro Circuit tournaments. Things quickly went off the rails however, resulting in a number of poor placements. This ultimately forced Na`Vi into the CIS open qualifiers for The International 2018, which went catastrophically wrong for the team.
After four year of steady competitive decline and eight years of competition, Dendi was deactivated from the Na`Vi roster in late 2018. He spent the 2018-2019 season playing on-loan from Na`Vi or as a substitute for a number of different teams including Team Secret, Vega Squadron, and The Pango. His longest run was in southeast Asia with Tigers. None of those runs led to particularly strong results.
During The International 2019, Natus Vincere revealed that it had completely split from Dendi. Following the event, Dendi stated he had plans to create his own esports organization, and was seeking investors.
In late 2019 he began playing with a number of CIS veterans in regional events under the banner of MR Team. The squad was officially branded as B8 in January 2020.
