German Dota 2 professional Leon “Nine” Kirilin has announced a longer break. This also means leaving the Tundra Esports team, with which he won the 2022 “The International” world championship.
“I fulfilled my dream with my dearest friends and experienced things I will never forget,” wrote Nine on X, formerly Twitter. “But the last two years have been the most stressful of my life and I can’t continue like this.”
Nine joined Tundra in 2021 and played his first TI a year later. He promptly won that, which was followed by a nomination for the German Computer Game Prize 2023.
For this year’s World Cup, the German changed his position in the team due to a very spontaneous loss of a teammate. This is “partly difficult, but I have the confidence to do it,” as he said shortly before the TI. With Tundra he reached the playoffs and finished in the top 16.
But now it’s a break for now. Nine wrote on He’ll come back when he feels ready.