Cover-Credits:
A shocking development took place during the DreamLeague Season 22 as Tundra Esports' offlaner Ivan "MinD_ContRoL" Ivanov was ejected from the team mid tournament. Following this, MinD_ContRoL appeared on Janne "Gorgc" Stefanovski's livestream to discuss the incidents that led to his departure. Originally, MinD_ContRoL had been the captain of Tundra; however, when Ivan "Pure" Moskalenko joined in January 2024, the role was shifted to him.
The organization's CEO, Anthony Graham, then hired David "MoonMeander" Tan Boon Yang as the coach, which he was again against but he reluctantly consented to both things. MinD_ContRoL also expressed discontent with the recent arrival of Ludwig "zai" Wåhlberg as the general manager, citing too many voices within the team. Consequently, he presented the organization with an ultimatum to choose between him and other members, resulting in their decision to part ways.
MinD_ContRoL shares the series of events leading to his exit from Tundra Esports
MinD_ContRoL said he was "angry" and "sad" and that he wanted to be away from Dota for a while, mentioning that things began to fall apart in January when Pure "stole" the captainship from him. However, he agreed to this change up as long as the team won.
“So first in January everything was good and all but it started a little bit adding up inch by inch in a way. So, first what happened is Pure took my captain’s role. He basically stole it from me which was okay for me as long as we are winning but that's not a good thing right because you just can't just win all the time so it's like that's not what I wanted in this team originally. I wanted to be the captain the drafter all that but it was stolen. That thing in itself is it's like it's okay,” he said.
Following this, MinD_ContRoL stated that he was forced to play alongside MoonMeander, who had been brought as Tundra's coach.
“Then the next thing that came up is MoonMeander. He was suggested by our CEO Anthony. He in a way suggested it and I said I don't like this idea at all. I don't want to have this coach I don't like it but then he kind of found a way to convince me without me being able to say no in a way. Basically kind of enforced it to work with MoonMeander and in a way convinced me because I don't really have a choice, not much choices at least,” he said.
In the aftermath of MinD_ContRoL's reluctance regarding MoonMeander, MinD_ContRoL was faced with another decision within the team that he did not support, the hiring of zai as general manager.
“Yeah, started working with Moon and yeah it's good but I don't like it so two things that I don't like already and the third thing is now it's zai. It's the same with zai. I said I don't want to work with zai. I don't know what this player manager role even does and I don't like it at all. What the f**is that role? I don't like it and yeah I don't like three things already and what's what's next? There's going to be more things that I don't like,” he added.
MinD_ContRoL was not pleased with the three instances that occurred over the last month as he felt powerless so he asked the CEO of Tundra to pick between him and the other members.
“So, basically, I have no voice or power in the team as a leader at all. It’s being taken over by Moon, zai and Pure so yeah I hate that. I hate that and I can't let them abuse me anymore. It's too much abuse so I told Anthony the CEO of Tundra you have to choose - it's going to be zai or me - choose. I'm fine with Pure. You know one problem is okay, it's not an issue to have one problem. It can be managed in a way but three problems and maybe incoming more potentially - it's too much for me. I can't handle this shit,” he claimed.
While MinD_ContRoL stated that with zai, he was teaching the team things that he believed they already understood as veteran players, with MoonMeander, he stated that he did not feel their personalities were compatible.
“Zai is trying to teach us all about the teamwork and things like this and it's good and all but honestly we know all of that. It's nothing new. We have the knowledge, we're not bad players and I don't see the reasoning of having too many voices in a team I think it's pointless and useless and if anything is going to do the opposite of help that's why I don't like this. That's just my opinion, I might be wrong but I don't like it.
And with Moon. it's about styles. I think his style is good of course he can win, he can make a team win in some way but I don't think it's the best. It's just opinion based thing I don't like it. So if the boss of Tundra doesn't see it like I do so he chose this way. It's him, he could choose me but he chose them,” he added.
MinD_ContRoL expressed that he began feeling mentally exhausted due to the ongoing changes while playing which led him to ask team management to take action.
Additionally, he conveyed feeling deeply frustrated at present, anticipating some challenging days emotionally in the coming few days. Despite the challenging circumstances, he said that he respected Tundra's decision and had no ill will against them.
Tundra also responded on Twitter to the player's departure from the team, suspending him following an internal disciplinary inquiry. Tundra reported that MinD_ContRoL refused to play or represent the team unless his “unreasonable” demands were met.
