Tundra Esports Bid Farewell To Lorenof Following Loan Expiration

Western European powerhouse Tundra Esports has announced a significant change to its Dota 2 roster with the removal of its Mid player Artem “lorenof” Melnick.

The 22-year-old was picked up by Tundra Esports on loan after The International 2024 where the roster went through a massive restructuring. Unfortunately, Lorenof’s time was cut short after a three-month stint with the team as the loan contract will not be renewed or extended. 

It’s been a fun run, with great results but it’s time to say goodbye following the end of his loan.

Thank you lorenof for your hard work and dedication on Tundra and all the best for your future 💙 #TundraTribe pic.twitter.com/hdmyCcYp1a

— TUNDRA (@TundraEsports) December 10, 2024

Tundra Esports is known for loaning players instead of signing them long term, and this strategy has proven quite effective as Ivan “Pure” Moskalenko, who helped the team place top-three at The International 2024, was also a product of a loan from the BetBoom Team. 

During his time in the roster, Lorenof assisted Tundra Esports in finishing second at BetBoom DACHA Belgrade 2024 and BLAST Slam 1, raking in $400,000 in prize money in less than two months. His most played heroes were Storm Spirit and Ember Spirit, with the latter being his most successful boasting a 75% win rate in 12 matches. 

However, the promising roster did go through a little bit of trouble in the ESL One Bangkok 2024 Qualifiers where they fell victim to AVULUS and OG to miss out on the ongoing million-dollar event. 

Fortunately for Lorenof, he has already settled in with a new Eastern European stack that has just recently emerged. This promising lineup will play under the name Chimera Esports, and will feature some very familiar faces:

• Aybek “TA2000” Tokayev
• Artem “lorenof” Melnick
• Nikita “Daxak” Kuzmin
• Ivan “OneJey” Zhivitsky
• Nikita “pantomem” Balaganin

As for Tundra Esports, a replacement is yet to be announced. They do not have any events lined up for the rest of the year, so don’t expect an immediate announcement. I think some likely candidates to fill in the vacant position could be Rafli “Mikoto” Fathur Rahman or Bozhidar “bzm” Bogdanov, but don’t quote me on that!