Cover-Credits:
9Pandas faced a disappointing setback at the recent Dota 2 tournament called Elite League. The esports organization from Serbia witnessed an early exit following a string of losses against Entity, Tundra Esports, and KEV.
The captain of this team, Alexei "Solo" Berezin, attributed the team's poor performance to drafting issues, voicing his frustrations in an exclusive video put out by the team on its official YouTube channel.
Solo pinpointed a lack of synergy in overall hero picks as the primary concern for the team's setback.
At the Elite League, 9Pandas finished the tournament with a disappointing bottom finish. The team notably struggled to perform at the tournament and could not secure even a single series win.
Solo Shares His Reasoning Behind the Poor Performance of 9Pandas at Elite League Dota 2 Tournament
Following their exit from Elite League, 9Pandas posted a vlog on its YouTube channel as a part of its occasional team updates and insights. During the video, Solo voiced his disappointment with the team’s performance at the Dota 2 tournament.
Solo strongly believed that the team’s poor performance was due to a major draft fault within the team, pinpointing how their heroes lacked synergy during official games.
Solo highlighted some specific hero combinations, such as Timbersaw with Tiny, Beastmaster with Tiny, and Mars with Shadow Shaman, as lacking effective coordination.
He expressed a desire for better synergy, advocating for picks like Dragon Knight or Centaur with Shadow Shaman and Mars with Rubick to improve their gameplay dynamics.
"Certain heroes have synergies, we pick without synergies. I don't want to play Timbersaw+ Tiny, Beastmaster+ Tiny, Mars+ Shadow Shaman. It seems like the draft is ok, maybe it is ok, but it doesn't get played. I'd like to take DK or Centaur to Rasta, for example. With Mars, I think Rubik is needed," said Solo.
Note: Transcription and Translation via Hawk.live
The consequences of their drafting woes were evident in their performance at Elite League. 9Pandas endured three consecutive defeats, losing all the series they were involved in, ultimately sharing the last two spots with Rest Farmers before bowing out of the championship.
Unfortunately, the recent poor performance by 9Pandas is not unique to Elite League. The team has been struggling to perform in general, failing to qualify for the upcoming ESL One Birmingham 2024, getting knocked out of both the open qualifiers.
Things are not looking good for 9Pandas as its long-time support, Vladislav "Antares" Kertman also left the team shortly after the disappointing performance at the qualifiers.
As of now, 9Pandas have no matches lined up and this crucial window of could serve as a potential practice period for the players to shake things up, especially with its drafting and strategy to come back stronger.
