Tundra Esports’ former championship roster is down to a single player after the organization announced it’s parting ways with coach Aui_2000. This means the team has now lost four players and the coach from the lineup that won The International 2022 in just the last month
Aui joined Tundra in November 2021 and helped lead the team on a strong campaign through the 2022 Dota Pro Circuit, however, after winning TI11 in dominant fashion, the team had a mixed 2023 season. The team had a rough first Major but managed to turn things around in April, leading to multiple strong placements at DreamLeague Season 19, the Berlin Major, and the Bali Major despite dealing with burnout health problems. That streak came to an end at Riyadh Masters 2023 as Saksa was forced to leave the tournament due to health issues, leading to a drastic change in the coming weeks.
Following Saksa’s continued health concerns, Tundra announced he would be taking an extended break from the team. He was later replaced by former OG superstar Topson as Nine swapped roles to play support. This lineup was hyped up by players and fans but ended up falling well short of truly contending for a title at TI12 after being upset in the seeding match and eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. As a result, one of the strongest rosters in Dota 2 is now no more.
Nine was the first to go, announcing an extended break from competitive Dota on Nov. 6. Team Falcons snapped up skiter and Sneyking just a few days later to form part of its debut roster while 33 left to replace zai on Team Liquid just one day after that. Now Aui is gone and Saksa is the only player from the TI12 winning lineup left on Tundra, though he is on the inactive roster, so it seems like this is the end. “After our loss to Entity, the future is uncertain for us,” Aui said in a documentary on Nov. 1. “No one knows if there will be a reshuffle or if people will keep playing together like this.”
If you don’t count Saksa, Topson is technically still listed as part of Tundra, though the details about his contract are unknown and it’s unlikely he signed on for longer than months leading up to TI12 and the event itself. This means Tundra has essentially exited Dota at the moment, though no formal announcement has been made and there is still hope even if the Topson dream is dead.
Much like when the org entered Dota in 2021 by signing the former mudgolems stack, Tundra could be waiting to pick up a new stack once the 2024 season begins. There are a lot of question marks now that Valve is no longer running the DPC and no information has been shared regarding how invites will work for TI13, leaving uncertainty for teams who weren’t in top form already. We can hold off on the Tundra eulogy until at least January, giving the team plenty of time to potentially talk about its plans—or lack thereof.
