Zeus announces retirement date after Berlin disappointment

Legendary in-game leader Danylo “Zeus” Teslenko has just announced that he’ll retire after the BLAST Pro Series Moscow event set to take place on Sep 13-14. The Na’Vi captain has already made it clear earlier this year that 2019 will mark the end of his career, but it seems like the team’s disappointing performance in Berlin prompted him to accelerate the timeline.

The announcement came in the form of a post on the CIS org’s official website just a day after the Berlin major’s conclusion. Zeus’ side disappointed at the event with a lackluster showing in the group stages followed by a quarter-final elimination to NRG. The only player of the current Na’Vi side to have played in every major to date – infamously winning the PGL Kraków event with Gambit – will end his career in front of a home crowd at BLAST Pro Series Moscow. He’s also confirmed that he “will not be coaching, at least for now”, planning to focus on regional talent development instead.

Though the in-game leader’s individual performances were a point of contention for fans of the team – alongside his weapon distribution decisions across the team in force-buy scenarios –, he departs the scene as a legend of the game with a multitude of big titles to his name. He has already confirmed his plans to retire this year in an interview given to HLTV at the tail end of 2018, but the sudden nature of the announcement still came as somewhat of a surprise to many.

He is the second veteran set to be replaced by Na’Vi after Edward’s recently concluded loan move to Winstrike, and it remains to be seen how extensive a readjustment period the CIS org is gearing up for with so many other rumors of big moves swirling around in the scene.