Natus Vincere (Na’Vi) has announced that they have signed 17-year old Russian support player Illias “illias” Ganeev.
The move rounds out their roster for the remainder of the 2019-2020 Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) season.
illias, who notably ranks fifth in the European matchmaking support leaderboard, will be taking Na’Vi’s position-5 role and filling in the roster spot previously held by Akbar “SoNNeikO” Butaev.
SoNNeikO was benched by Na’Vi last month to facilitate his transfer to a new team following “personal conflicts” with his teammates which stemmed from the team’s poor results to start the season.
illias’ signing seems to be following a new trend of CIS teams acquiring new talent from pubstars. In a similar move, Virtus.pro notably filled out its revamped roster with Egor “epileptick1d” Grigorenko and Vitalie “Save-” Melnic at the start of the season.
illias will first see action with Na’Vi in the qualifiers for the DreamLeague Season 13: The Leipzig Major on December 1-6.
He will also make his LAN tournament debut with Na’Vi at the ONE Esports World Pro Invitational in Singapore from December 17 to 22.
Natus Vincere Dota 2019-2020 DPC roster:
- (1) Vladyslav “Crystallize” Krystanek
- (2) Idan “MagicaL” Vardanian
- (3) Pavel “9pasha” Khvastunov
- (4) Bakyt “W_Zayac” Emilzhanov
- (5) Illias “illias” Ganeev
READ MORE: Into the Invitational: Natus Vincere are looking to turn things around
