After a disappointing run at the Perfect World Shanghai Major Europe Regional Major Ranking (RMR) tournament, 9 Pandas are implementing changes to their strategy and roster. Despite managing to secure victories against formidable teams like Astralis and Aurora, the squad struggled against stronger opponents, suffering defeats at the hands of G2, Virtus.pro, and Ninjas in Pyjamas. This resulted in a disappointing finish, placing them in the 9th to 11th position overall.
The players impacted are Aleksandr ‘glowiing’ Matsievich and Artem ‘iDISBALANCE’ Egorov, who have been transferred to the inactive roster and added to the transfer list. These two were among the longest-tenured members of the team, having spent a year and seven months with the organization.
The two players were introduced as part of a squad overhaul by former 9 Pandas coach Andrey ‘Xoma’ Mironenko in 2023, and the only player in the team with a longer history is Daniil ‘d1Ledez’ Kustov, who became a member of the pandas in 2022.
‘glowiing’ and ‘iDISBALANCE’s’ notable accomplishments in 9 Pandas include their victory at PARI Please 2023, where they triumphed over BetBoom, MIBR, FURIA, and Eternal Fire, as well as qualifying for the PGL Copenhagen Major. Unfortunately, the team had to pull out of the tournament at the last minute due to visa complications, which meant that they did not get the chance to make their Major debut.
9 Pandas roster is as follows:
- Aleksandr ‘shalfey’ Marenov
- Daniil ‘d1Ledez’ Kustov
- Evgeny ‘r3salt’ Frolov
- Artem ‘Fierce’ Ivanov (coach)
- Aleksandr ‘glowiing’ Matsievich (transfer-listed)
- Artem ‘iDISBALANCE’ Egorov (transfer-listed)
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