Since winning The International 2022, Tundra Esports have been grappling with persistent burnout issues among their players. In an effort to ease this problem, Tundra recently allowed some of its players to return to their home countries.
Despite the effort, Tundra have been forced DreamLeague season 19 with a stand-in after Martin “Saksa” Sazdov, one of the team’s key players, withdrew just days into the season. Due to the unforeseen change, most fans counted Tundra out of the running. The TI-winning spirit showed up at the last second, however, as Tundra won its remaining matches without Saksa, advancing to the next stage of the tournament with the second seed in their group.
The decision to take a break came after a series of poor showings from Saksa, which could mean the player may have detected his performance dipping, making the difficult decision to step away for the good of his team. In his place stepped in Adam “Aramis” Moroz.
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The timing of Saksa’s break and Aramis coming in is not very beneficial for the team, though, since the winner of DreamLeague season 19 will have a guaranteed spot at Riyadh Masters, a $15 million event.
Tundra have notably struggled this season, but it is possible that curbing the burnout for at least one of the team’s members could ultimately prove to be successful later this year.
