Cover-Credits:
There was a quiet period for Nigma Galaxy over the past few months as The International 12 (TI12) took place followed by a period of extensive roster changes around the world. As the first significant tournament of the competitive season of 2024 ended, Nigma's return was eagerly anticipated by fans, who now find the team has made four changes in one day. The team announced the departure of offlaner Ivan "MinD_ContRoL" Ivanov, followed by the exits of Yuma "Yuma" Langlet and Kasra "Mikey" Mesbah within the next two hours, and then it announced an hour later that Maroun "GH" Merhej is moving to the inactive roster. GH will take a break from competitive Dota 2 in 2024 to spend time with family.
Nigma Galaxy parts ways with MinD_ContRoL, Yuma, and Mikey while GH goes inactive
On 20th Dec, Nigma Galaxy began the series of roster changes with the departure of MinD_ContRoL.
Nigma compiled a montage featuring some of MinD_ContRoL's memorable moments throughout the years and the player shared his favorite memory with the team in addition to talking about not giving up.
“Of course, the most memorable memory is from The International 7, because we won. If your team believes and you yourself believe that you can come back, it might be a 2% chance but you have this chance, you should fight for it. You should risk everything for it. You should never give up. You should keep playing. It’s definitely worth it if you win it of course (laughs).”
MinD_ContRoL's departure is one of the most significant roster changes of the season since he is leaving the team he has played with since 2015. In the eight years together, they became one of the most decorated squads in competitive Dota 2, winning TI7, EPICENTER 2016, EPICENTER 2017, and the China Dota2 Supermajor, among other top four results.
Following MinD_ContRoL's departure, Mikey and Yuma parted ways within two hours, two changes that were rather expected given their lack of success in their six months with the team and the fact that the latter has been filling in for other teams in the recent past.
In a major shakeup, Nigma announced that GH would move to the inactive roster an hour later. In 2017, he broke through into the upper echelons of competitive Dota 2 with his team, becoming a key part of the TI7 victory with top performances on heroes like Io.
The announcement of Nigma included GH's thoughts on leaving professional Dota 2 in 2024.
“Hello everyone, GH here. I just want to tell you guys that I will be taking some time off from competition for a while. I have been going back and forth about this decision and it was not an easy choice to make. For the past years, I spent most of my time on the game and I have sacrificed a lot. For the moment, I am going to focus on giving some time to my family and my loved ones. I will keep following up with the team and will possibly do some 1 on 1 coaching sessions. Thank you all for the support you have given me throughout all these years. I’ll see you soon.”
As it stands currently, Nigma has captain Kuro "KuroKy" Salehi Takhasomi on the active roster, while GH and Amer "Miracle-" Al-Barkawi are on the inactive list. Miracle- has not played professionally for a year owing to health problems, except for a stand-in spell with Shopify Rebellion in early 2023. His return remains uncertain.
Except for GH, the fate of the TI7 champions and one of professional Dota 2's most cherished teams remains unclear, both at an organizational and individual level. Additionally, it is yet to be determined whether KuroKy will also move away from the active roster or assemble a new roster around him.
