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Sumail “SumaiL” Hassan has returned to the Nigma Galaxy Dota 2 lineup amid a major roster overhaul. The news comes a day after dramatic moves on Wednesday that left Nigma Galaxy with just one active player.
SumaiL initially joined Nigma Galaxy in May 2022 after a short and unsuccessful stint with Team Secret. With SumaiL on the roster, Nigma Galaxy returned to the top division of DPC WEU 2021/2022 but failed to win anything at the highest level.
A long dry streak led to more roster changes, with coach Daniel “ImmortalFaith” Moza, Ammar “ATF” Al-Assaf, and SumaiL removed from the active lineup. After he was benched in May this year, SumaiL joined Team Aster on loan and stayed with the Chinese outfit for six months.
With Team Aster, SumaiL placed top eight at ESL One Berlin Major 2023 and won a bronze medal in DPC CN 2023 Tour 3: Division I. Unfortunately, his stint in China ended in August when Aster crashed out of The International 2023 China Qualifier in fifth-sixth place.
Since leaving Aster, SumaiL has attended just one professional Dota 2 tournament, BetBoom Dacha, as a replacement for Armel “Armel” Tabios at Team Secret. While SumaiL again came short of winning a trophy, he helped his former team claim a bronze medal.
SumaiL rejoins Nigma Galaxy at a difficult time.
On Wednesday, the team released Yuma “Yuma” Langlet, Kasra “Mikey” Mesbah, and Ivan “MinD_ContRoL” Ivanov. Just hours later, Maroun “GH” Merhej announced that he was taking a break from competitive play for the foreseeable future.
This left Nigma Galaxy with just two players: captain Kuro “KuroKy” Salehi Takhasomi, who was rumoured to retire before the 2024 season, and Amer “Miracle-” Al-Barkawi, who has been inactive since he stepped down from the roster in December 2022 due to health issues.
While the departure of Miracle- came as a shock, Nigma Galaxy were expected to make drastic changes ahead of the 2024 season. Since Miracle-, GH, MinD_ContRoL, and KuroKy formed the squad after leaving Team Liquid, Nigma Galaxy haven’t accomplished much.
While they were always on the cusp of establishing themselves as one of the top European sides, Nigma Galaxy have yet to win an S-Tier event. Their lacklustre performances became even more noticeable in 2023 when Nigma dropped to the second division for DPC WEU 2023 Tour 3 for the second year and ended the season with no tournament titles.
