NAVI Returns To Dota 2 By Signing Shad and BOOM’s PuckChamp

After dropping its entire Dota 2 roster over a month ago, Ukrainian organization NAVI has decided to acquire the PuckChamp lineup ahead of ESL One Bangkok 2024.

Natus Vincere put their eggs in the Yuragi basket for the 2024 season, but had minimal results as the team failed to qualify for significant events through the Eastern European region. Eventually, the entirety of the previous roster was benched. However, the organization did mention they would return to the scene if a promising opportunity arose. 

Return of Navi

And so, NAVI didn’t have to wait long. In the Eastern European Qualifiers for ESL One Bangkok, a new stack surfaced, repping the PuckChamp logo. This group of blokes has some notable names, including Shad, BOOM, and Kaori, who have played for several top-tier teams in the past. 

Playing their first set of qualifiers together, PuckChamp breezed through the competition, defeating the likes of 1win and Virtus.Pro with ease to claim the singular ESL One Bangkok slot available for the Eastern European region.

Heading into the million-dollar tournament without a sponsor, PuckChamp quickly agreed to don the NAVI jersey for Bangkok, as both parties had the same goals aligned. 

The new NAVI roster consists of:

• Indji “Shad” Lub
• Sukhbat “sanctity-“ Otgondavaa
• Miroslav “BOOM” Bičan
• Vitalii “QBFY” Ivanov
• Oleh “kaori” Medvedok

Mid-laner sanctity- was actually a part of the previous iteration of NAVI that got benched, so I’m happy to see him back on the team again. I’ve been following him for a while now and think he’s super underrated. 

BOOM also had a short stint with NAVI when he stood in for the squad at PGL Wallachia Season 2 alongside Puppey and bzm, where they managed to clinch a respectable top-four finish. His Beastmaster was super solid throughout the qualifiers, so watch out for that. 

Though he’s been around for a bit, Shad recently re-stamped his name on the scene after playing with Tundra Esports for Wallachia too, showing he’s still got the goods. Kaori recently played for top teams, namely PSG Quest and Aurora. Meanwhile, QBFY is the new kid on the block who was part of Palianytsia, who acted as the laning partner of the legend himself – fortniteMan. 

We’ll see this promising NAVI squad make its debut under black and yellow at ESL One Bangkok 2024, which will begin on December 9th.