Former Natus Vincere captain Akbar “SoNNeikO” Butaev has announced a new team with former Chaos Esports Club players Jonáš “SabeRLight-” Volek and Milan “MiLAN” Kozomara.
European pubstars Charlie “CharlieDota” Arat and Ondřej “Supream^” Štarha round out the roster as the Position 1 and 2 players, respectively.
Both are among the top 25 players on the European Core MMR leaderboard, with CharlieDota placing at rank 18 and Supream^ at 22.
SoNNeikO revealed the new team on his personal Twitter account, marking his return to the competitive scene after he was benched by Na’Vi in October last year due to “personal conflicts” within the team.
- Na’Vi bench SoNNeikO due to “personal conflicts” within the team
- Na’Vi signs 17-year old support pubstar ‘Illias’ to complete 2019-2020 DPC roster
SabeRLight and MiLAN both played in short stints with Chaos EC before becoming inactive. MiLAN joined Chaos EC in May 2019 and went to The International 2019, where they bombed out at 15th-16th place before he left the organization in October later that year.
Meanwhile, SabeRLight was loaned to the organization from Team Singularity when Chaos EC picked up the roster of Quincy Crew in November. The team managed to place second at the Dota Summit 11 Minor, the first event of the 2019-2020 Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) season, but SabeRLight left the team shortly after and became inactive.
SoNNeikO’s decision to join an EU stack is interesting, as he remains one of the most skilled and experienced captains and support players in the CIS region, where a definitive top team has yet to emerge.
SoNNeikO and his young squad will be looking to make a splash in arguably the most competitive region in all of Dota in the qualifiers of the ESL One Los Angeles Major in February.
SoNNeikO stack 2019-2020 DPC roster:
- Charlie “CharlieDota” Arat
- Ondřej “Supream^” Štarha
- Jonáš “SabeRLight-” Volek
- Milan “MiLAN” Kozomara
- Akbar “SoNNeikO” Butaev
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