Natus Vincere is adding Vitaliy “so bad” Oshmankevich to its Dota 2 roster on a trial period, the organization announced today. The player replaces Semion “CemaTheSlayer” Krivulya, who was previously the latest addition to the team.
Na’Vi’s COO, Aleksey “xaoc” Kucherov, said the previous roster was unable to “set up effective communication” with CemaTheSlayer, a situation exacerbated by the lack of face-to-face contact. The rescheduling of The International meant that this was a “perfect opportunity to test new players and the synergy amongst them.”
Xaoc added that the organization was looking to groom so bad as the roster’s next captain, who had proven himself to be “a good leader in Vega Squadron” and was involved in pre-game strategies and shotcalling.
So bad is a Belarusian support player who first exploded onto the scene with Vega Squadron during the 2019 CIS TI qualifiers. With low expectations and a team consisting almost entirely of unknowns, Vega stomped the group stage with a 7-0 performance, helped in large part thanks to so bad’s consistent performances on Dark Willow.
The team was unable to replicate their success in the playoffs, though, and ended up in third. The TI slot was eventually clinched by Na’Vi.
Several players on that team have since found homes in other CIS organizations, such as Arslan “xannii” Shadjanov ending up on HellRaisers, with Gambit Esports’ Danil “gpk” Skutin perhaps being the most sought after.
This roster change might explain why Na’Vi opted out of the ongoing OGA Dota PIT Online tournament. Na’Vi’s new roster will debut in the European leg of the ESL One Birmingham Online event set to kick off on May 24.
