Dota 2 team Talon Esports announced that it had parted ways with Tal "Fly" Aizik and Kim "Gabbi" Villafuerte. With this, the roster is left with three members who are Rafli Fathur "Mikoto" Rahman, Damien "kpii" Chok, and Brizio Adi "Hyde" Putra Budiana.
On Twitter, the organization revealed that they were happy for the team being able to finish the Winter Tour together in Thailand. However, there’s no question that the travel restrictions in Southeast Asia have become a challenge. In addition, the pandemic already affected the competitive scene, with the Winter Tour being canceled.
According to Talon, the management and players needed to have the same mindset and values for everyone to make it through the rest of the year. At this point in time, it looks as though all parties weren’t able to align optimally.
Talon went on to say that both Fly and Gabii have managed to return home safely and are allowed to look for new teams. Fly used to be part of Western Europe and North America while Gabbi is with Southeast Asia but based in the Philippines.
Even with two members leaving, Talon assured its fans that it's going to compete in the upcoming DPC SEA Tour.
Talking about his departure from the team, Fly tweeted that he enjoyed his time in the region “but in the end it wasn’t a good fit.” Not surprising, considering that the SEA region of Dota 2 has always been seen to have an aggressive playstyle.
Division II Performance
Despite being new to the Dota 2 competitive scene, Talon was able to join Division II of SEA, courtesy of the Open Qualifiers. However, it looked like it had a hard time managing to win only three of the seven matches. That’s still a good showing since the team stayed in Division II.
It would be interesting to see how Talon fares in the upcoming season considering that TNC Predator has been relegated to Division II after placing last in Division I. Let’s wait and see who the organization is signing as replacements.
Dota 2 is available on Steam for the PC.
