Akbar “SoNNeikO” Butaev has announced that he is no longer a part of Ninjas in Pyjamas’ (NiP) Dota 2 team.
“I am out from NiP! Thanks to my teammates for good days,” SoNNeikO said in a short statement on his personal Twitter account.
While the NiP has yet to issue their own statement regarding SoNNeikO’s departure of the team, NiP’s position 4 support player, Adrian “Era” Kreyziu, thanked his now-former teammate in a reply on his tweet.
“You’re one of the best I’ve ever had the pleasure to play with. Thanks for everything,” said Era.
SoNNeikO’s departure seems to signal a new direction for NiP’s Dota 2 squad, as they have also parted ways with team manager Curtis Coffin, who referenced “recent changes” to the team as the reason for his own departure.
SoNNeikO has been with the team when it was first formed as Chicken Fighters in November last year as its captain following his departure from Natus Vincere. After Era replaced Milan “MiLAN” Kozomara as the team’s position 4 support player, the team saw massive improvement to finish in fourth place at ESL One Los Angeles Online: EU/CIS.
The Chicken Fighters roster was picked up by NiP in April after its previous squad was dissolved following the retirements of Peter “ppd” Dager and Saahil “Universe” Arora.
The new NiP squad had a respectable 5th-6th place finish in their debut tournament at WePlay! Pushka League Season 1, though they been in a slump since then. The team only managed to finish 5th-6th in OGA Dota PIT Online: EU/CIS and 11th-12th at ESL One Birmingham Online: EU/CIS in May, then bottomed out at BLAST Bounty Hunt and BEYOND EPIC: EU/CIS in June.
Ninjas in Pyjamas Dota 2 roster:
- Charlie “CharlieDota” Arat
- Ondřej “Supream^” Štarha
- Jonáš “SabeRLight-” Volek
- Adrian “Era” Kryeziu
READ MORE: The OG Seed roster has disbanded
