It has been a rough past few years for Nigma Galaxy with many downs and despite roster changes in certain roles, Nigma Galaxy's core roster has interestingly remained together. A recent episode of the Foggy Analytics podcast featured Nigma's offlane player Ivan "MinD_ContRoL" Ivanov explaining his bond with captain Kuro "KuroKy" Takhasomi. While MinD_ContRoL said that there have been occasions when he considered investigating new possibilities, he enjoys a deep-rooted bond with KuroKy and would never part ways. They have won a lot together, and despite their lack of success lately, the offlaner stated that they will not give up.
MinD_ContRoL didn't deny, during Episode 36 of the Foggy Analytics podcast with Russian language caster Oleksii "STORM" Tumanov, that he never considered leaving KuroKy but never executed the decision, due to the many roles he plays in life as both a professional and an individual.
“Yes, definitely. I had years, some of the years I was thinking to leave and try new opportunities, try a new team. But I’m always amazed at how good Kuro is as a player and his personality. He teaches me so many things. He teaches me about the game, he teaches me about life things. He did so many things for me. I just feel like he’s a brother to me. I really feel like he’s a brother to me.”
According to MinD_ContRoL, winning or losing does not impact the bond and there is no possibility of him walking away going forward as well.
“There’s no way I am going to leave him. It does not matter if we are losing or anything like this. We are also winning. For me, he’s the best person ever. He did a lot for me. That’s what is holding us. He did a lot for me, we won together, and we lost together. We keep going. We are strong and no giving up.”
MinD_ContRoL and KuroKy originally started playing together for 5Jungz in 2015 before joining Team Liquid shortly after. In 2017, they won The International 7 (TI7), one of the highlights of their tenure with Liquid. Two years later, they left Liquid and formed their own organization, Nigma Galaxy.
Nigma Galaxy has not had the same level of success as Liquid, but the core squad has remained together. After experimenting with numerous well-known Dota 2 players in various roles throughout the years, the team recently recruited two young stars, Kasra "Mikey" Mesbah as its new midlaner and Yuma "Yuma" Langlet as its new carry player.
Nigma will play in Division II of the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) Tour 3 in the coming month, hoping to escape the clutches of prolonged dismal performances and finally reclaim its glory days.