Evil Geniuses has officially released Roman “RAMZES666” Kushnarev from its Dota 2 roster after nearly three months of silence, the organization announced today.
RAMZES was signed by EG following The International 2019, where he left Virtus Pro and the CIS region behind to join Tal “Fly” Aizik and a revamped roster to try to dominate North America.
The team performed well when they played together, finishing fourth at the MDL Chengdu Major and second at several other tier-one tournaments like DreamLeague Season 13. But because of the COVID-19 pandemic canceling LAN events and limiting travel, RAMZES only played in a total of four events for EG in 2020 and only once after March.
RAMZES remained on EG’s active roster despite the long break between competitions, but the team officially listed him as inactive on Nov. 6, replacing him with Daryl “iceiceice” Pei Xiang just a week later.
After being benched, RAMZES briefly reunited with his former VP teammates Vladimir “No[o]ne” Minenko and Alexey “Solo” Berezin on the Just Error stack that the pair formed with Syed “SumaiL” Hassan and several other CIS veterans. That roster only lasted one event, though, before the players split up again.
EG are competing in the upper division of the 2021 Dota Pro Circuit’s NA regional league and sit atop the standings at 6-2. RAMZES is now a free agent and can sign with a new organization, but he might be limited on options due to the DPC’s new roster lock rules.
As of now, it appears he’ll wait until the end of the first DPC season before making any announcements about his return.
“Yesterday was my last day at EG, so I am now a free agent,” RAMZES said. “I want to thank our coach Bulba for everything he taught me and for believing in me after TI9. Thanks to my teammates for a great time together, and to the EG staff (Phil, Nicole, and everyone else) for organizing my life in America and at tournaments. We are waiting for the end of the first season, and then back that Dota.”
