B8 Rebuild Dota 2 Roster

The Ukrainian Dota 2 team, B8, announced another roster rebuild on Sunday, October 24, by benching four players. B8 is now back to Danil “Dendi” Ishutin, the only remaining player on the active lineup.

B8 Press The Reset Button (Again)

B8 entered the Dota 2 esports scene in January 2020. The team was created by the legendary Dota 2 player, Dendi, whose goal was to form a top-tier roster.

Unfortunately, his project has yet to reach that status. Throughout B8’s history, the team went through several iterations, having made roster changes almost monthly over the last two years.

The first big roster change happened in June 2020, when Dendi revealed he is benching the entire roster in favor of a new lineup. Yet even that iteration didn’t last for long, leading to another significant overhaul early into 2021.

Unsurprisingly, more roster moves followed later than month, when B8 parted ways with Enis “5up” Elfki and Sergey “[T]SA” Timchenko. That eventually led to the second roster rebuild in March 2021, with the departure of Leonardo “RdO” Fernandes, Diego “Sexyfat” Barini Santamaria, and Heitor “Duster” Pereira.

For the first time in B8’s history, the Ukrainian team went through a reasonably stable period, making only two roster changes in the next seven months. However, success was hard to come by, ushering in the third major roster overhaul.

“We have some changes in the Dota roster, ” read the announcement. “Limitless, watson, [T]SA are taking place on the bench. We are thankful for all games and experience we have been through together.”

B8’s most recent roster rebuild sees the departure of Yaroslav “Limitless” Parshin, Alimzhan “watson” Islambekov, Vladislav “DkFogas” Frolov, and [T]SA.

Underwhelming Results

Dendi has not revealed why he has decided to start fresh with his B8 Dota 2 esports project; however, poor performances likely had something to do with it. Still, 2021 was B8’s most successful season to date.

B8 have yet to win a single tournament since the team entered the Dota 2 scene. Throughout 2020, B8’s most notable placement was top-six at WePlay! Dota 2 Tug of War: Mad Moon and the Epic Prime League Season 1.

In contrast, B8 started the 2021 season with a top-six finish at Snow Sweet Snow #2, and while they haven’t been too active for most of the year, B8 made a splash in September when they placed third at the Dota 2 Champions League 2021 Season 3. It marked B8’s first top-three finish in history and a sign of a bright future.

However, Dendi and co. returned to their old ways in October, during the fourth season of the Champions League. Struggling to emulate their success from September, B8 finished the tournament in sixth place.
Although B8 did well enough during the group stage (6-3), they underdelivered in the playoffs, losing to Creepwave and V-Gaming.

New Season, New Roster

Despite his squad’s underwhelming showings, Dendi is determined to keep his project going and fulfill his goal of returning to the top-tier competition. As one of the most well-known players in the Dota 2 esports scene, Dendi was the champion of the TI1 and has since made it to back-to-back finals in 2012 and 2013 and finished top-eight in 2018.

Unfortunately, his success was limited in recent years, and he has not attended a single TI since 2016. Regardless, Dendi remains a respected name in the Dota 2 scene, which everyone would like to see back on the big stage.

But before that happens, Dendi must build a competitive roster for B8. The Ukrainian Dota 2 legend has yet to comment on how he plans to achieve that; however, he still has plenty of time to find players to sign to his team.

The 2020 Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) season starts on November 29, 2021, meaning Dendi has over a month to rebuild his roster. More information about the future of B8 should become available in the coming weeks.