SoNNeikO joins the ranks of Vega Squadron

Akbar “SoNNeikO” Butaev has joined up with Vega Squadron for the remainder of 2016 and possibly moving into the Winter Major registration period. SoNNeikO will assume the position left vacant by Artyom “Fng” Barshak only days ago. Vega’s midlane role is still yet to be filled and revealed. However, the new roster is expected to be present in Yinchuan, China, for WCA, in December.

Taking a page out the Evil Geniuses playbook, Vega Squadron has begun a string of announcements regarding their Dota 2 lineup and plans for next season.

Only one day after an open blog post was made by Vega Squadron CEO Alexey Kondakov, it was announced that both Artyom “Fng” Barshak and Bogdan “Iceberg” Vasylenko would be parting ways with the team.

Now, the CIS organization has recruited Akbar “SoNNeikO” Butaev to fill in Fng’s shoes.

Ten days ago, it was revealed that Na’Vi had bid farewell to three of their players – Dmitry “Ditya Ra” Minenkov, Akbar “SoNNeikO” Butaev and Ivan “ArtStyle” Antonov.

SoNNeikO is the only player to replace Fng with. Every team would be glad to see him in their jerseys but he chose to move to Vega Squadron. I hope that with him in our squad the results of Vega will improve. As for the second newcomer we are right in the middle of his transfer and will announce him as soon as we deal up with all contractual relationships.

– Vega Squadron CEO Alexei Kondakov

The last player will be announced in the near future, leaving fans hanging by a thread for closure.

The organization has put very high hopes and expectations on their new additions and are aiming to see dramatic improvements in results.

Vega Squadron will be attending WCA 2016 in China with the new roster.

Vega Squadron

Vega at Frankfurt Major, photo courtesy of ESL

At the end of August, Vega completed their lineup with Bogdan “Iceberg” Vasilenko in the midlane role. Earlier in August, it was revealed that Fng would be joining the organization following the complete dissolution of Virtus.Pro.

The new additions and changes were unable to achieve desired results.

Vega Squadron took 6th in the group stage of Boston Major Qualifiers with a 4:5 record and 6th place in DreamLeague with a 6:8 record, thus failing to advance in both. They also took a disappointing 9th-12th finish in the ESL One Genting 2017 qualifiers, being knocked out in Round 12 by Fantastic Five.

Vega Squadron roster:

Semen “Cema” Krivulya
Rostislav “fn” Lozovoi
Andrey “Mag” Chipenko
Akbar “SoNNeikO” Butaev