iLTW Describes His Experience at Nigma Galaxy

A young carry player from Russia, Igor "iLTW" Filatov has already made a name for himself, having played for some of the biggest names in European Dota 2 like OG, Virtus.pro, and Nigma Galaxy. During a recent Twitch livestream, he described playing in these three top squads with his experience in Nigma being the most notable. iLTW player spent over a year with the team with some highs and many lows and said he was keen when he first started playing, but he began to experience depression as time passed. In iLTW's opinion, the criticism the Dota 2 community fires at players is evident to them and they respond accordingly.

iLTW claims that his tenure at Nigma Galaxy got increasingly difficult as time passed

While being a skilled carry player, iLTW has also established himself as a prominent Twitch Dota 2 livestreamer with a sizable viewership. During a recent livestream, when asked if he played the game for fun or out of habit, he briefly explained his time at OG, Virtus.pro, and Nigma.

In terms of motivation, he started out with a lot of energy when he got his big break by playing for OG. But then it waned when he joined Virtus.pro, and later on, when he joined Nigma Galaxy, things gradually got out of control. After leaving Nigma in May 2022, he asserted that only a month ago he was ready to play again.

“I really wanted to play Dota when I was at OG. Then in VP (Virtus.pro) I just wanted to play Dota. In Nigma Galaxy a little less. When I first joined the team I wanted to play, but then that disappeared. It was gone for a long time, I was in a deep depression. It wasn't until about a month ago that I upgraded and got ready to play. Pro players are people too. When you write nasty things, everyone reacts to it, everyone sees everything.”

Nigma and iLTW began their partnership with promising results. However, the team's performances deteriorated over time and when their results did not improve after The International 10 (TI10), this change was needed. In the later stages of his tenure with Nigma, iLTW was subject to a great deal of criticism from the community, where he felt he made too many unforced mistakes.

While stating he's ready to play again, iLTW clarified that the time will come as soon as he and another player align. He also spoke of a time when he was about to join forces with Roman "Resolut1on" Fomynok.

“If I play well and someone wants to make a team with me, he'll write me, or I will. I wanted to make a team with Resolut1on, but it didn't work - he got into Team Secret.”

[transcriptions via dota2.net, translations via DeepL Translate]

It is likely that iLTW will return to the pro scene after TI11, which takes place this month. When TIs end, there is usually a lull in pro Dota 2 action, but there are plenty of roster changes involving the top players and teams.