Vikin.gg Say Goodbye to Their Dota 2 Roster

With The International 10 three months away and very little Dota 2 action in sight for the next 5 months, Vikin.gg decided that it was no longer worth it to keep their roster. Most of the crew had been competing together for more than 18 months and the results were not bad at all. With more persistence, this team could have become one of the best in Western Europe. In fact, one could argue that they already were, since they played in the Upper Division of the region’s DPC 2021 Season 1 and then won the Lower Division in Season 2.

The Future of Vikin.gg

Vikin.gg has not announced its departure from Dota 2. They only said that they decided to release their current roster, most likely for financial reasons. This leaves us wondering: what’s next for the org?

Because of the results from DPC 2021 Season 2, Vikin.gg should have, in principle, a spot among the best Western European teams in 2022. No matter what format Valve decides to use for the season (and I do expect that they will keep the current one), Vikin.gg should receive a direct invite to the highest ranked league in their region.

It’s hard to speculate right now who will be on the new roster. And most likely, the organization will not tell us until the end of TI 10. But we do know that quite a few great players are free agents. SoNNeikO has recently left Na’Vi and people like Solo and No[o]ne are also doing very little at the moment. Of course, forming a great roster full of CIS players might mean that Vikin.gg will have to change regions.

The most likely option that I see for Vikin.gg is to repeat what they did last time, but with slightly stronger players. There’s no point in recreating the roster if the players are weak.

The Future of the former Vikin.gg Roster

Given how well they’ve played together over the last 12-18 months, I expect the ex-Vikin.gg roster to continue playing as a unit and try to get signed by a strong organization. This is a team with a lot of potential, so I think there will be quite a few companies and esports clubs that will show interest in their skills.

Dota 2 is quite a popular esport and any event is watched by large numbers of people. Anyone who’s interested in reaching a young audience could benefit from the exposure provided by a team like ex-Vikin.gg. With relatively famous players like KheZu and Seleri, this lineup could receive a lot of support from the fans. All they need to do is win some trophies. And the crew already proved capable of that in 2020 and 2021.

For a team that’s only been around for around 21 months, Vikin.gg has earned quite a bit of prize money in Dota 2 tournaments: $353,000. And keep in mind, they’ve been competing against the best rosters in Europe and CIS.

 

Photo credit: Valve