Natus Vincere hires PuckChamp and goes to DPC 2023 Divison 1

Natus Vincere hires PuckChamp and goes to DPC 2023 Divison 1

28. February 2023 by Andrew Williams

The rumors of PuckChamp being acquired by NAVI circulated for more than a year after several reports and even a partial confirmation by the players. The teams even attended boot camps together. Now it’s official and Natus Vincere has confirmed that they have signed PuckChamp’s Dota 2 lineup.

Natus Vincere has signed PuckChamp’s Dota 2 team, including players Shigetsu, Malik, Danial, mellojul and Malady. Only Malady is left from Natus Vincere’s previous lineup, all other players are new. Swedenstrong was also placed on the transfer list, he played position four.

Dota 2 “bought” up into division 1

After a horrible showing in DPC 2023 Tour 2 they were pushed down into Division 2. So NAVI was missing from the first division, but they are back now. They acquired PuckChamp and thus have “earned” a spot in the DPC 2023 Tour 2. Arman “Malady” Orazbayev, position five player, was able to stay, but the rest of his teammates were removed. On Twitter, Natus Vincere wrote, “What a struggle it was to get back to the first division,” adding a blog post that they signed the roster from PuckChamp.

NAVI’s problems in Dota 2

The young team Natus Vincere put together shortly before the first DPC 2023 Tour did not live up to the standards of the prestigeous organisation, who is used to being a dangerous team for any opponent, even though they did not achieve impressive results in the past years. The lineup struggled mightily, winning only one of seven series it played. With the relegation to the second division, the team parted ways with Vladislav “laise” Lais, Nikita “Nicky`Cool” Ostakhov and even Alik “V-Tune” Vorobey, who was with the team for almost two years.

Then Malady quit himself and ironically joined PuckChamp but then they got picked up by NaVi a day after that, what a rollercoaster. PuckChamp was the team that gained their spot last season by placing second in Division two. The signing of PuckChamp also means NAVI gets an extra spot in the second division, which NAVI Junior will use. Last but not least, the last remaining member of NAVI, Georgii “swedenstrong” Zainalabidov, could be sold off to other teams.

NAVI Junior lucky

NAVI Junior, competing in the second division, consists of Tamir “daze” Tokpanov, Taras “gotthejuice” Linnikov, Stanislav “Riddys” Mitroshkyn, Yurii “pma” Prots and Ričards “Ri4man” Kalniņš. With this young lineup they put their trust in an inexperienced squad one more time. Of course they hope for a different outcome this time While the first time didn’t go well, Natus Vincere is hoping for a marked improvement for Tour 2, which kicks off next month.

Natus Vincere’s new Dota 2 lineup now has the following players:

  • Danial “danial” alibaev
  • Maksym “mellojul” Pnev
  • Arman “Malady” Orazbayev
  • Maxim “shigetsu” Popadinec
  • Abdimalik “Malik” Sailau