The streamer Ilya “Illidan” Pivcaev announced his return after a 4-year break from esports. He wanted to play Dota 2 professionally in Team Empire. However, a day later he announced his departure – because he couldn’t cope with the game.
Who is it about? Illidan was a professional player in the game Dota 2. He was active in the esports scene from 2013 to 2018. He stepped back in 2018 and focused on his career as a streamer on Twitch.
Recently, the streamer drew attention to himself when he officially joined the esports Team Empire, only to announce his departure again in less than 24 hours.
What led to Illidan’s departure?
- Illidan had already filled in as a substitute in Team Empire several times
- On June 23, he officially joined the team, replacing Arslan “Retrograde” Shadzhanv
- The team won twice with this roster
- After that, Team Empire lost three times in a row
- A day after Illidan announced his return, he stepped down
“I feel like I would just make it worse”
How did Illidan justify his departure? In a post on June 24 on his Telegram channel, Illidan stated the reason for his departure from Team Empire.
He mentioned that he was having trouble grasping what was happening in the game. Therefore, he wouldn’t perform as well as he wanted. He no longer wanted to play professionally and also didn’t want to drag the team down with his performance (via t.me).
What are the consequences for Team Empire? Team Empire now lacks a carry player. No replacement for Illidan has been announced yet. However, the issue is that the season has already started.
Many teams are already set, thus reducing the pool of possible players.
It is suspected that for the next matches, a substitute will fill in for Team Empire. The next match for the team will take place on July 1 against PuckChamp.
Why did Illidan have such big problems? During his break from professional esports, Illidan remained active as a streamer. Notably, in his statement, he mentioned that he couldn’t cope with the game Dota 2.
Dota 2, together with Apex Legends, is one of the main contents on his channel. In the last seven days alone, he streamed 13 hours of Dota 2 (via sullygnome.com).
On the other hand, it probably takes more targeted training than a bit of streaming to play competitively professionally. And after years of absence, re-entering might indeed be difficult.
How does the community react to Illidan’s spontaneous departure? On reddit, the community reacted humorously and wrote comments like “Illidone” from IvarSnow or “WTF, I thought I was someone who switches jobs quickly” from HiveMindKing.
What do you think about the whole thing? Feel free to write it in the comments.
If you’re interested in an esports career, you should know these 5 games you could play professionally.
