Niku on Natus Vincere in Dota 2: “We’ve decided to keep the roster together for another year.”
Natus Vincere midlaner Artem “Niku” Bachkur spoke in an interview at PGL Wallachia Season 9 about watching The International 2026 from home and assessed the roster reshuffles for the new season.
On his break
I got plenty of rest, played a lot of public matches, and I feel good and refreshed.
On watching The International 2026 from home
I watched HULIGANI play—they beat us. They shouldn’t have been at The International. I wanted them to show something, but they didn’t show anything.
On team communication after being eliminated from The International 2026 qualifiers
We talked about what happened and why we lost. We had different opinions, and we decided that we were unlucky in the two main qualifiers—the EWC and TI. We decided to keep the roster together for another year.
On the mid laner at The International 2026 who stood out to him
I wouldn’t say this TI was notable for its mid laners. It was more about the carries. A lot of carries tried to outplay each other. The midlaners were like passengers, helping the carries kill everyone. Obviously, Larl played better than anyone else because he won. He played his heroes very well.
On Rerolls
The LGD Gaming roster made me laugh because Sumail returned to mid, and Sneyking moved to the fifth position. That’s not what I wanted to see from Sneyking. To me, he’s a top-tier player.
Natus Vincere advanced to the PGL Wallachia Season 9 playoffs with a 3-1 series win. The team’s only loss came against Team Yandex. Tomorrow, the team will face LGD Gaming in the upper bracket quarterfinals of the tournament.
Photo: PGL.
