The 25-year-old Russian star had just helped the team qualify for the Major from the EEU DPC
On Monday, HellRaisers announced that they will be moving forward to the Lima Major without Nikita “Daxak” Kuzmin despite the player’s solid performance since joining the squad. The organization did not specify a reason for this move, however. Daxak took to Telegram to let his fans know that this was not a mutually agreed-upon decision.
The Russian Position 1 player recently helped Hellraisers come in 3rd place in the Dota Pro Circuit Winter Tour, which makes them eligible for the first Major of the 2023 DPC season. However, apparent internal problems have led to HellRaisers saying their goodbyes to Daxak long before the trip to Peru.
Since the announcement, the squad has been practicing with different players to find a potential replacement for the Russian star. Winter Madness MVP Igor “iLTW” Filatov, who is now a free agent, and Natus Vincere’s former Carry player Alik “V-tune” Vorobey are both set to try out as potential candidates to complete the relatively new roster.
Matvey “MieRo” Vasyunin, Hellraisers’ offlaner, reflected on this roster change as an opportunity to introduce a new player with a better playstyle.
In the wake of Daxak’s departure, the near future of HellRaisers in the Dota 2 scene is uncertain. Due to the fact that roster changes are not as frequent in Dota 2 once the DPC season begins, the organization is veritably taking a calculated risk.
Despite securing a spot at Lima Major, HR may be running the risk of losing 50% of their DPC points due to Daxak’s sudden release. As a result, this may have a negative impact on the team’s eligibility to qualify for The International later in the year.
For now, it appears that HellRaisers will have to appoint a registered sub and make it to the top eight of the Major to earn enough DPC points.
Until they find a new permanent carry player, HR is stuck with stand-ins to complement their current 4-man lineup:
- VLADISLAV “Antares” KERTMAN
- Gleb “depressed kid” Ziryanob
- Alexey “Solo” Berezin
- Matvey “MieRo” Vasyunin
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