Danil “Dendi” Ishutin has joined CIS organization The Pango to compete in the upcoming TI9 qualifiers. The once revered mid laner and former TI champion has been in a rough spot since he was released from Na’Vi. He had a brief stint in SEA with Tigers earlier this season that proved to be disastrous.
Dendi played almost eight years for Natus Vincere. But after missing success over quite some time, Na’Vi decided to start in the new season of the Dota 2 Pro Circuit without their veteran. He’s still technically under contract with Na’Vi, but they loaned him out to the Tigers roster, where he spent the majority of the season trying to compete in Southeast Asia. The Ukrainian veteran joined Tigers in January 2019. The team didn’t qualify for any of the following major or minor tournaments and decided to disband. Dendi was again without a team.
What happened with Pango?
Meanwhile, The Pango reformed their roster keeping only Ghostik, who continued to play under the banner with fill-in players and other CIS veterans like Bogdan “Iceberg” Vasilenko. But after placing decently at ESL One Mumbai, head manager Igor “Bad Playa” Gorevoy decided to check the market and see who was available. Apparently, the CIS market was heavy and Pango is back with some quality players.
Four new players are coming in to make one last push at making TI9, and this collection of talent could be just what was needed to tip the scales of the CIS away from Gambit. They could also just flame out, though, since it’s unlikely that these players have had any time to practice beyond what will happen over the next few days.
Видооооооооос!
Суперблокбастер!
[VO] «Новая команда Dendi !»
Жми!
📽 https://t.co/m4wL62xUth #ForThePango pic.twitter.com/ds9gwoSG5n— Igor Gorevoy (@bad_playa) June 30, 2019
Dendi, Vladimir “Chappie” Kuzmenko, Danial “yamich” Lazebny, and Mihail “Misha” Agatov replace Semion “CemaTheSlayer” Krivulya, Iceberg, and Danial “XSvamp1Re” Alibaev. Aybek “Naive-” Tokaev remains on the team’s inactive roster.
What to expect?
The Pango, unfortunately, has a long route to take as they will have to go via the Open Qualifiers, which itself is really unpredictable, owing to the bo1 single elimination format. Afterward, they’ll face the likes of Na’Vi, Gambit Esports, and Winstrike. All these teams gained a lot of experience this season in the DPC. Especially Gambit is going to be hard to beat; they are considered the favorites in their region. They came close to qualifying directly for TI but lost to Alliance in the deciding matchup.
The Open Qualifiers start June 3 and will determine which teams get to play in their respective Regional Qualifiers for a spot at TI9.
