Leon “Nine” Kirilin has announced his retirement from competitive play, doing that on Monday, November 6, in a development that leaves Tundra Esports’ TI11-winning Dota 2 squad in further depletion. It all started in September 2023, when Tundra moved key player Martin “Saksa” Sazdov to its inactive roster due to health reasons.
Nine’s retirement now leaves Tundra’s championship-winning roster with only three active members, of which the future Tundra championship-winning, but things are looking uncertain for the remaining members, too.
However, despite his departure, Nine hinted that his retirement could be temporary, but the break was much needed for him as he needed to chill a bit and live life. He revealed that his passion for the game has dwindled and that he needs to take a break until he feels better after a period of playing under great stress.
It is possible that Nine had to play under stress as he had to evolve into a new role at Tundra after Saksa’s departure from the team, learning a new role to welcome the two-timer Topias “Topson” Taavitsainen to the team. Topson took over the mid-role, while Nine moved over to position four just a few months before The International 2023. The team would go on to have an almost flawless group stage with a 7-1 record but still experience an early exit at TI 2023.
After the group stage, Tundra failed to stay uphill, and they were knocked out shockingly by an NA Dota 2 underdog and went into the lower bracket.
Despite dropping into the lower bracket, Tundra was dethroned by Entity. The former Dota 2 champions may have to revamp the whole roster of TI 2023, especially after two core members are out of the picture.
Elsewhere, CS2 superstar NiKo revealed on Monday that he has turned down an offer from the Saudi organization Falcons to stay with G2. This is after reports claimed that the Falcons had already paid NiKo’s buyout clause.
Daniel Ademiju Idowu
