Team Spirit might have brought the Aegis of Champions to Eastern Europe, but the remainder of the region continues to struggle with roster instability as 9Pandas has been unable to lock its squad. Today, 9Pandas announced RAMZES666’s departure, an unexpected development as he was a core member.
RAMZES has been a part of the 9Pandas roster ever since its inception, and his close relationship with the team captain, Solo, powered up the team even further. While Solo denied a potential 9Pandas disband in November, the team’s future looks uncertain.
Solo returned to 9Pandas at the last second for ESL One Kuala Lumpur, as the team initially planned to play with RodjER at the event. With Solo at the helm again, fans’ expectations for 9Pandas’ grew, but the team crashed out of the tournament after a horrendous group stage performance.
Throughout the whole group stage, 9Pandas could only win a single match against Team Falcons. 9Pandas look unprepared, and team members weren’t on the same page in most matches, but that could be chalked up to Solo’s late return to the team, something they could work on to improve.
The removal of such a core player didn’t look like it was in the cards prior to the event. While 9Pandas and RAMZES officially said their goodbyes without any additional context, there have been rumors circulating in the Dota 2 communities that 9Pandas members weren’t on the best of terms with each other.
In 2022, Solo was removed from NAVI’s Dota 2 roster following a TI11 LCQ loss due to internal issues, so current rumors would fit an ongoing narrative in the Eastern European Dota 2 scene.
With Valve taking a step back from Dota 2’s competitive scene for 2024, the competitive scene will be working with less strict roster change rules for the first time since 2017.
