MinD_ContRoL Gets Kicked From Tundra In The Middle Of A Tournament

Tundra Esports offlaner Ivan “MinD_ContRoL” Ivanov announced on Twitter that he was removed from the roster before the team’s DreamLeague Season 22 match against Shopify Rebellion. 

LFT , just got kicked before the match

— Ivan Ivanov (@MinDcontRoLDotA) February 26, 2024

Removed From The Roster After Less Than Two Months

The TI winner only learned about the kick 30 minutes before the Best of 2 series and is now looking for a new team. The incident caused delays for the match between Tundra Esports and Shopify Rebellion. 

The Tundra organization or their other players have yet to make an official statement regarding the situation, and MinD_ContRoL’s replacement was not publicly stated either. However, we got to see ex-Natus Vincere player Vladislav “laise” Lais on the server when the Tundra vs. Shopify Rebellion match started.

It is also worth noting that former Team Liquid player Ludwig “zai” Wåhlberg announced his retirement from professional Dota and recently joined Tundra Esports as General Manager. There is a good chance zai was responsible or involved in the booting of MinD_ContRoL.

MinD_ContRoL joined Tundra Esports in January 2024. During his time with the team, the Bulgarian participated in three qualifiers. Tundra missed out on BetBoom DACHA Dubai but made it through DreamLeague Season 22 and ESL One Birmingham 2024. 

Tundra finished the first day of groups with one win and three losses. Though this isn’t the greatest of results, it’s only early days in the tournament, and the team played against Xtreme Gaming and Team Spirit, arguably the two strongest teams in the group. In the series against Xtreme Gaming, MinD_ContRoL went 2/8/8 on Night Stalker and 0/4/9 on Mars. 

The community did not know how to react to this unexpected turn of events. Most personalities were confused and remorseful for MinD_ContRoL, while others poked fun at the situation because of how bizarre it was. 

We don’t see players getting kicked mid-tournament too often, not only in the Dota 2 scene but also in the entirety of esports. To have done such a thing to a high-profile player like MinD_ContRoL will definitely leave a bad look to the Tundra Esports organization. The Bulgarian helped the team through two qualifiers and won’t even get the chance to play in the tournaments. 

MinD_ContRoL has had a tough few years, failing to qualify for numerous LAN events with Nigma Galaxy, including The International. He acted as a stand-in for OG and Team SMG and got to play, but he had not made it to a LAN through his own efforts. Now, his opportunity was robbed.

UPDATE: Tundra Responds To MinD_ContRoL Situation

The organization has released an official statement on their Twitter account.

“Tundra Esports is dedicated to maintaining transparency and accountability within our organization. We can confirm the indefinite suspension of Ivan “MinD_ContRoL” Ivanov pending an internal disciplinary investigation. We were notified by the player that he would no longer participate and represent Tundra unless unreasonable demands were met.”

The key words in their statement were “unreasonable demands”, but what kind of demands could MinD_ContRoL ask for? 

UPDATE: MinD_ContRoL Talks About The Situation

An hour after the news broke out, MinD_ContRoL made his way to Gorgc’s livestream with thousands of viewers. There, he shed some light on the situation.

MinD_ContRoL mentioned there were three main things that caused the decision for his “unreasonable demands”. 

Reason 1: Pure Taking His Captain Role

MinD_ContRoL was supposed to be the captain of the team. It was initially agreed that he would be the team’s captain when he first signed the contract. But, the youngest player, who has much less experience than MinD_ContRoL, essentially stole the role from him.

“Pure stole my captain role. It was okay for me as long as we were winning, but that’s the thing, you can’t just win all the time. This is not what I wanted in this team. I wanted to be the captain, the drafter, and all that.”

MinD_ContRoL also mentions that this first problem was manageable. He knew a team couldn’t be perfect, so he was ready to go through with having his captain role taken from him.

Reason 2: MoonMeander Brought In As Coach

The Bulgarian did not enjoy the decision of bringing in MoonMeander as the team’s new coach. In the livestream, MinD_ContRoL mentioned that MoonMeander wasn’t a bad coach, but just had differing opinions.

Though MinD_ContRoL told the CEO that he wasn’t a fan of this decision, he mentioned the CEO forced MoonMeander into the team.

“He was suggested by our CEO. I said I don’t like this idea at all. I don’t want to have this coach, I don’t like it. But then, he found a way to convince me without me being able to say “no” in a way. Basically kind of enforcing me to work with MoonMeander. I didn’t really have a choice, not many choices at least.”

This became the second problem for MinD_ContRoL, as varying opinions affected his ideas and performance in the game. He was unsure of how to play the game after MoonMeander arrived.

Reason 3: Zai Joins As General Manager

MinD_ContRoL did not understand what zai’s role would be in the team. Gorgc, YapzOr and other personalities were also confused about this “General Manager” position that zai is taking.

“I said I didn’t want to work with zai. I don’t see what this player-manager role even does, and I don’t like it at all. What is that role? At this point, I don’t like three things already, like what’s next? Now, basically I have no voice or power in the team as a leader at all. It’s being taken over by Pure, Moon, and zai. I hate that and I can’t let them abuse me anymore, it’s too much.”

The third strike became the last straw for MinD_ContRoL. Despite landing a spot in an amazing team and organization such as Tundra Esports, he stood up for himself and did not want to get abused any longer.

MinD_ContRoL Gives An Ultimatum

With all of these factors in mind, Ivanov gave Tundra’s CEO a final choice.

“I told the CEO of Tundra that you have to choose. It’s going to be Moon and zai, or me. I’m fine with Pure being the captain. It’s fine to have one problem; it can be managed in a way. But three problems and potentially more coming? It’s too much for me, I can’t handle this. It’s hard to perform as a player when there’s too much bullshit in your head.” 

Now, Tundra is left scrambling to find a last-minute replacement for DreamLeague Season 22. The community is heavily siding with MinD_ContRoL on the situation.