Former Na’Vi and NiP captain SoNNeikO finds new stack

Three months after his departure from Ninjas in Pyjamas, SoNNeikO is back with a full CIS squad.

Three of the players—Egor “Ergon” Kozlov, Vasily “AfterLife” Shishkin, and Alexander “Immersion” Hmelevskoy—played together while on Team Spirit. ILTW, who last played for CIS powerhouse Virtus Pro, has seemingly sealed his departure from the now-inactive roster with an appearance alongside SoNNeikO.

SoNNeikO’s previous captaining stints have been puzzling ones. The player was a bright spot while playing under Natus Vincere but was benched for a teenage rookie last November.

He then built a new stack named Chicken Fighters, which was signed to NiP after stellar results in online tournaments. The team went on to make repeatedly deep competition runs in the exceptionally tough European region. After a group stage exit at BEYOND EPIC in July, the captain was again shown the door with no explanation given from either party.

The team will have to wait for a while before their competitive debut, however. The squad won’t be making an appearance in the upcoming tournament, ESL One Germany, after missing the qualifiers by about a week. With several CIS esports organizations in limbo with an alleged reshuffle storm incoming, SoNNeikO might find himself at the reins of a big name before long.