Saksa decides to take a break from DreamLeague Season 19 for a “mental reset”

Dota 2 DreamLeague Season 19 is now underway. The 16 participating teams are fighting with sweat and tears to walk away with $300,000 and a direct ticket to Riyadh Masters 2023.

However, it’s not all good news for the participating teams, as some players have shown that they are a bit overwhelmed during the matches. One of them has been Martin “Saksa” Sazdov, a player of Tundra Esports, who has withdrawn from the tournament claiming that he wants to do a “mental reset.”

Saksa announces his retirement from DreamLeague Season 19

Really surprising news we had a few hours ago when the player Saksa, a player of Tundra Esports, the current world champions, decided to leave the competition. In addition, the organization announced that Adam “Aramis” Moroz, a former Alliance player, will be the one to replace him for the rest of the tournament.

There is no doubt that this news has surprised everyone in the Dota 2 competitive scene. Tundra comes from being the champion of The International 2022. However, after a somewhat rocky start to DreamLeague Season 19, with a record of 2-3-1 in Group B, the player posted on his Twitter account that he wanted to do a “mental reset.”

As we can see, the player claims he has been very tired lately and wants to take a break to reset himself mentally and return fully ready for the Berlin Major.

Berlin Major is the players’ priority

While it is true that in this DreamLeague Season 19, the winner takes home an incredible $300,000 in prize money, plus qualification for the Riyadh Master, the priority for players and teams is the Berlin Major.

This is because the Major is a tournament where DCP Points are distributed, which are undoubtedly essential for the qualification to The International 12. In addition, Tundra Esports, as current champions, have their sights set on their second consecutive title.

On the other hand, it is worth mentioning the fact that the Berlin Major starts only three days after the end of the DreamLeague Season 19. This means all the teams and players qualified for the Berlin Major will only have two days of rest. Something really difficult to cope with for the players, who are the protagonists of these events.

Bad start for Tundra Esports

Tunda Esports started the DreamLeague S19 as one of the favorites to be on top of Group B. However, now that the tournament is closing the Group Stage and eight teams will be the ones to advance to the next stage, Tundra is on the back foot and needs to react to stay alive.

So far, Tundra has only managed two wins (Team Spirit and Nigma Galaxy) and needs to win their match against Nouns to qualify.

With Aramis as a substitute, we will see if Tundra can return to its best possible level to qualify for the next phase and remain favorites to win the tournament.

Header: Adela Sznajder | ESL