SoNNeikO and Na'Vi Part Ways Once Again

Akbar "SoNNeikO" Butaev, the now-former position five of Na'vi, recently posted via Twitter, stating his departure from the organization. In May of 2021, Na’Vi released ALWAYSWANNAFLY and Iceberg and replaced them with No[o]ne and SoNNeikO. This move was in an effort for the team to qualify for TI10 after their disappointing sixth-place finish in the second season of the Eastern Europe (EEU) Dota Pro Circuit ( DPC). Despite their best efforts, Na’Vi did not end up qualifying for TI10 and SoNNeikO has now once again parted ways with the team.

SoNNeikO’s departure from Na’Vi comes as a surprise to nobody

Na’Vi and SoNNeikO have a long history with each other. SoNNeikO has been one of the team’s longest active players. This is, however, not in one single tenure. In 2015, Na'vi had built its roster around SonNNeikO and the midlaner, Dendi. After a few months, they found success and finally earned a tournament victory in Starladder i-league StarSeries Season 2, after two years without any championship title. SoNNeikO has played on and off Na’Vi multiple times in the last six years, and in-between the transitions, he had played for Vega Squadron, Chicken Fighters, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Live to Win, and AS Monaco Gambit.

The last iteration of Na’Vi’s roster consisted of the previous FlyToMoon roster which they acquired at the end of 2020 for a renewed effort in the 2021 DPC season. However, as is a tradition in the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) region, they eventually replaced most of the squad for veterans of the region, in the form of Ramzes666 who replaced GeneRaL and the eventual replacement of Iceberg and ALWAYSWANNAFLY.

This superstar roster went into the EEU TI10 qualifier as Na’Vi’s hail mary effort to qualify for TI10. While their initial performance in the upper bracket seemed promising, things eventually fell apart and they lost two series in a row, resulting in their elimination from TI10 EEU qualifier.

The story of Na’Vi and SoNNeikO is similar to that of Dota 2 players and the game, they always seem to be taking a break from each other and eventually end up together again. With SoNNeikO’s departure, it will be interesting to see which team he will join in the near future. He might return to Na'vi yet again, as we can guess by the pattern in their history. There's also a possibility of Na'vi bringing Solo to the roster, resulting in a rebirth of the Virtus.pro squad.