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NAVI have completed their Dota 2 roster ahead of the 2023 DPC season, signing solo middle Nikita “Nicky’Cool” Ostakhov from Project Armor and former HellRaisers support Arman “Malady” Orazbayev.
The Ukrainian team announced the signings via a press release on their official website.
“The NAVI esports club has signed the roster for the next Dota Pro Circuit season,” the franchise announced.
“Two new players joined the team — Nikita “Nicky`Cool” Ostakhov and Arman “Malady” Orazbayev.”
To make room for Nicky’Cool, NAVI also announced the release of Volodymyr “No[o]ne” Minenko. They thanked him for his contribution to the team and wished him the best in his future endeavors.
“We also want to thank Volodymyr “No[o]ne” Minenko: together with him, NAVI took second place in the DPC EEU 2021/2022 Tour 3, advanced to PGL Arlington Major 2022 and TI 2022: Last Chance Qualifier,” the franchise went on.
“We wish No[o]ne success in his future career.”
NAVI came into The International 2022 with little fanfare, having to fight their way through the Last Chance Qualifiers. Despite not making it to the main event, the team put on a strong performance while dealing with internal issues that led to the release of Alexey “Solo” Berezin and the eventual removal of No[o]ne.
While Solo and No[o]ne were both experienced, their replacements may seem like a gamble at first glance. However, both Nicky’Cool and Malady have proven themselves in the competitive Dota 2 scene, with the former ranked in the top 60 on the European leaderboards and the latter winning the second division of the Eastern European DPC.
Malady started his Dota 2 career in October 2020 with local franchise V-Gaming before joining HellRaisers after a year. He has spent slightly over two years with the HellRaisers and in that time has registered a good number of regional successes.
However, Nicky’Cool is a relative newcomer to the scene as he only ventured into competitive Dota 2 in mid 2022 with the Rune Eaters, where he spent a month before leaving for Project Armor. His four months with Project Armor was not much to go by as the team finished 9th-12th in The International 2022 Eastern Europe Qualifier.
Nicky’Cool and Malady will join NAVI’s carry Alik “V-Tune” Vorobey, offlaner Vladyslav “laise” Lais, and support Georgii “swedentstrong” Zainalabidov to complete the Ukrainian powerhouse’s roster along with Mykhailo “m1ke” Palamar as the team’s manager. They will make their debut for the team in the winter stage of the Dota Pro Circuit 2022/2023, which is scheduled to commence on January 9, 2023.
For Solo and No[o]ne, on the other hand, their future home is uncertain. With the deadline for the offseason coming to an end soon, they have only a few days to join a team in time for the first DPC tour.
