Former Alliance pro Nikolay “Nikobaby” Nikolov has confirmed his retirement from the professional Dota 2 scene after the organization scrapped its roster ahead of another rebuild.
“I’m not going to continue being a pro, one hundred percent,” he said during his Twitch stream on Oct. 10. And he doubled down on it, too.
“No more pro gaming for me, one hundred percent.”
The Bulgarian carry player has played Dota 2 competitively since 2014 but established himself as one of the best players in 2019 while playing for WarriorsGaming.Unity and Mineski.
Alliance snapped him up later that year.
Nikobaby was arguably their most prolific player, having survived several other rebuilds.
The plan had always been to rebuild around him, but that changed after Alliance rounded off their worst DPC season in the organization’s history by losing to Team Bald in the first round of The International 2022 Western Europe Qualifiers.
His ever-reliable farming on heroes like Morphling, Faceless Void, Juggernaut, and Wraith King produced many memorable moments at the highest level, and taught fans a thing or two about item timings.
As for what he plans to do next, Nikobaby said he’ll focus more on streaming while also launching his own Dota 2 podcast, and the wheels to make that happen are already in motion.
“I’m already kind of working on the podcast,” he said. “I’m thinking about the questions and the content that will be in the podcast. It might come out in the next ten days or so.”
The first episode will feature Alliance CEO Jonathan “Loda” Berg, suggesting there’s no bad blood between them after everything at the org.
