After months of silence, Evil Geniuses has finally commented on the competitive status of its Dota 2 roster by making a big change to its starting lineup.
Roman “RAMZES666” Kushnarev has officially been removed from the team’s active roster and likely won’t be returning to play for EG in the future, the organization announced today.
EG, being an organization based in North America, has struggled to remain competitive in the online era of Dota produced by COVID-19. The team has tried playing in NA and even briefly competed in Europe, but the success never matched the potential shown by the roster at LAN events before the pandemic.
Since pushing Team Secret to the brink at the DreamLeague Season 13 Major in January, EG hasn’t been able to play with its normal roster at all while competing in big events. They frequently used two stand-ins and never truly adapted in their current form.
RAMZES being the first domino to fall makes sense. His fit with the team was a little odd since he was playing offlane after coming from his time with Virtus Pro playing as a carry. He last played for the team during the Omega League in September, where EG finished fifth.
Following two months of doing nothing, EG has moved RAMZES to the inactive roster and promises more updates in the coming weeks. EG’s lineup now features Artour “Arteezy” Babaev, Abed Yusop, Andreas “Cr1t-” Nielsen, Tal “Fly” Aizik, and coach Kanishka “BuLba” Sosale.
Abed might be the next player moved off of EG’s active roster. He hasn’t played for EG since March in Dota Summit 12 and has instead spent his time standing-in or competing with various rosters in Southeast Asia.