Dendi and his organization, B8, have been through a lot over the last three years, and it looks that list might include mistreating at least one player during the most recent Dota Pro Circuit season.
With the regular season over and having failed to earn more than a handful of DPC Points, B8 has been shuffling its roster around ahead of The International 12 qualifiers. After leaving the team, however, Dendi’s longtime teammate and fellow CIS veteran Glib “Funn1k” Lipatnikov called out the Dota legend for not paying out some of his earnings.
During a Twitch stream, Funn1k mentioned that a manager told him he somehow “did a disservice” to the organization through “media activity” and he has not been paid for at least two of the DPC Tours this season.
“Did you forget, buddy, that you owe me $7k? Don’t you think so? $7k for two DPC [Tours,] do you remember?” Funn1k said, via Cybersports on July 31. “Speaking to the manager, I was told they’d pay me for the following half a year. What half a year? Are you fucking out of your mind? Are you fucking crazy? Hello, give me my DPC money! Those are mine, I won them at DPC, you took your cut, and you have no fucking right to touch them.”
According to Funn1k, B8 had plenty of problems that he ignored while playing for the org, though they added up over time and he was forced to endure “inconveniences of all sorts for half a year, to put it mildly.”
This tirade about not being paid was followed by bouts of Funn1k dancing around without his shirt off and sharing stories about a fight in a nightclub, so until we hear about things being settled, it is best to take his claims lightly. But the next part of his talk focused specifically on Dendi as a player, where he put his longtime teammate on blast.
Funn1k says he approached his former NAVI running mate several times to try and get him to practice and improve at a mechanical level throughout the season, but to him, it seems the captain was willing to coast by being “low skill” and hampering the team as a whole.
“I had certain ways to share with you, and you would improve if you listened. I tested all these methods myself,” Funn1k said according to a translation by escorenews.
“I know it would work because this game is the same for everyone. The fact that people see it differently does not matter. The mechanics are the same: In every game, every time, the creeps follow the same path and meet in the same locations. I’m sorry, but instead of working on yourself, you did some bullshit. I realized that I couldn’t do this anymore.”
After half a year of watching Dendi’s “bullshit” lack of progression, Funn1k left the team, unwilling to play with someone who would not even react when given the means to improve themselves.
While we don’t know anything concrete about the monetary side of Funn1k’s argument, Dendi being focused on areas outside of Dota even while competing in the DPC isn’t too farfetched.
Related: Dota 2 legend Dendi joins incredible 1,000 Club—but his win rate looks like Pudge
The former TI champion has fallen into relative obscurity at the highest level of the game, outside of his recognizable personality and content. B8 has failed to truly stand out at any point since forming in January 2020, remaining near the bottom of the barrel in the DPC, even setting the worst losing streak in pro-Dota history.
Due to the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia, the team picked up its latest roster and moved to North America this season, but only just managed to stay in Division I throughout the year. Considering that is the highest point in the org’s three years in the scene, it is apparent something is not going Dendi’s way—or the problem is spread deeper internally.
For now, Dendi will need to field a new lineup for the upcoming TI12 qualifiers that start on Aug. 17 in one final bid to Dota’s biggest stage, while Funn1k remains a free agent and will likely keep everyone updated on the situation.
Dot Esports has reached out to B8 for comment on the situation.
