Daxak Explains His Fallout with SoNNeikO in his Stint With BetBoom Team

During a recent livestream, former HellRaisers' carry Nikita “Daxak” Kuzmin reflected on his time with his previous team, BetBoom Team during the 2022 Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) season. Last year, Daxak played under the Winstrike Team banner before being ultimately signed by BetBoom Team for the rest of the season right before the Stockholm Major.

While BetBoom Team started off its journey well with a top 8 finish at the Major, the team fell off hard in terms of performance afterwards. After being unable to qualify for the Arlington Major and massively underperforming at The International 2022 (TI11), the organization decided to release its entire roster in the off-season.

If I didn't stop him, no one could stop him.” - Daxak on falling out with SoNNeikO

During a recent livestream according to Dota2.ru, Daxak talked about his previous stint with BetBoom Team last year amongst other things. However, during the discussion he went into detail about his fallout with his former captain Akbar “SoNNeikO” Butaev.

He started off by saying that he had an internal conflict with the captain during the team’s participation at the Stockholm Major, saying that both him and SoNNeikO went back and forth. 

“A tough conflict arose at the major in Stockholm, either before the start or during the group stage. Conventionally, there was a situation: 5 opponents show up at the base, they have no stun and can not kill me, and I empty the tank in the solo. Akbar yells: "Stand back," and I understand that I can not kill. I said to him, "Why?" and continued to fluff. As a result, after the game he says things like, "You joined a ready-made team and didn't do anything. You're nobody and your name is nothing, so you should listen," he said.

However, he claimed that SoNNeikO’s leadership style is not working. Additionally, he also noted that the internal conflict escalated further as the season progressed as the rest of the team did not say anything to their captain.

“Akbar had unlimited power on the team: if I didn't stop him, no one could stop him. If he did something *** [bullshit] - whether it was in a game or at a replay review - no one said anything to him but me. Why not? Maybe I was the only one who saw it. The rest of the team would see it if it was explained to them. Maybe it's just that no one wanted to confront him. In my mind, the captain is not only a person who talks and listens in the game. In life, he should be a captain, too.” he added.

[transcriptions via Dota2.ru, translation via DeepL]

While Daxak found a new home in HellRaisers after TI11, his stint with the organization recently came to an abrupt end despite the team managing to qualify for the upcoming Lima Major. As of now, Daxak is a free agent.