Dota 2 player Ivan ‘MinD_ContRoL’ Ivanov has apologised to Tundra Esports after making ‘unreasonable demands’ which led to his suspension from the team.
The Bulgarian player tweeted last month saying he had been kicked from the London-headquartered esports organisation just before a match in Season 22 of DreamLeague.
He later told Gorgc on stream that Pure ‘stole’ his role of team captain, that he didn’t like MoonMeander joining as coach in January, and didn’t like Zai joining as general manager in February.
“I have no voice or power in the team as a leader. Everything is taken over by Moon, Zai and Pure. I hate that and I can’t let them abuse me anymore, it’s too much.
“I told Tundra’s CEO: ‘You have to choose: It’s going to be Moon and Zai or me.’”
This led to Tundra indefinitely suspending MinD_ContRoL from the team.
“We were notified by the player that he would no longer participate and represent Tundra unless unreasonable demands were met,” Tundra said.
The news comes after Tundra’s roster went through several changes at the start of 2024.
Today, MinD_ContRoL has published a statement apologising for his actions.
MinD_ContRoL’s apology to Tundra Esports – statement in full
MinD_ContRoL said: “Hey guys, So after clearing out my head now, I wanna apologise to Pure, Moon, Zai and Tundra for making it sound like they did something bad to me. I was emotional and said my feelings in the wrong way when I talked to Gorgc.
“There was a misunderstanding that I was captain and could make all the decisions. Pure didn’t steal [my captaincy], but it was more like a team decision (I overreacted in that situation). We had a good trial period with Moon and I was ok with extending the tryout. He had good impact in the Birmingham quals.
“The role of general manager was new to me. I was emotional and took the role of Zai and his advice in the wrong way. I didn’t exactly understand his intentions.”
“It was bad timing to do an ultimatum,” he continued. “I don’t have issues with anyone in Tundra or the players, there were some misunderstandings and that’s why all of this happened.
“It’s all chill, I wish best of luck to Tundra and see you soon.”
The news also comes a month ahead of ESL One Birmingham 2024, a tournament that Tundra will be competing in.
Tundra Esports announce tournament platform partnership with Repeat
In other Tundra news today, the organisation have announced their partnership with Repeat, an esports tournament platform, part of the Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) family, the home of PlayStation.
This collaboration will introduce the Tundra Thursday Pub Smash, an esports league catering specifically for the Dota 2 community.
Over the next eight weeks, starting March 21st, aspiring players are invited to register their Steam ID on the Tundra Thursday Pub Smash homepage, which will automatically track the players’ in-game scores, ranking them accordingly.
The league is aimed to give seasoned veterans and Dota 2 players the opportunity to compete in their respective online matches with the chance to win rewards, including a $4,000 prize pool and exclusive Tundra merchandise.
Anthony Graham, co-founder and director of esports at Tundra Esports, said: “We are proud to join forces with Repeat in launching Tundra Thursday Pub Smash, this partnership underscores our shared vision of empowering gamers and fostering community engagement through innovative esports experiences.”
Registration for Tundra Thursday Pub Smash is now open to all Dota 2 enthusiasts worldwide.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
