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After Aliwi "w33.haa" Omar was removed from Nigma's active Dota 2 roster, Igor "iLTW" Filatov was revealed as their fifth member days before the second DPC season began.
Although the second season of Dota Pro Circuit is underway, Team Nigma is yet to play a game with their new Dota 2 roster. Having said that, the team has registered with all the respective players according to the following roles,
- Amer "Miracle-" Al-Barkawi - Carry;
- Igor "iLTW" Filatov - Mid-laner;
- Ivan Borislavov "MinD_ContRoL" Ivanov - Off-laner;
- Maroun "GH" Merhej - Roaming support; and
- Kuro "KuroKy" Salehi Takhasomi
The change in Team Nigma's Dota 2 roster came as a forced reaction to the team crashing out of the group stages of the One Esports Singapore Major.
What came as the biggest disappointment for the team from Europe is the fact that Team Nigma failed to secure even a single series victory in the group stages and ended their run with a score of zero wins, one draw, and four defeats, winning just one match of Dota 2 against nine defeats.
How will iLTW's addition to Team Nigma's Dota 2 roster affect their performance
Team Nigma will begin their DPC season 2 campaign against Team Secret, arguably the best team from the region. However, the presence of iLTW does allow a lot of versatility in the team.
Unlike w33.haa who specialized in a specific few heroes like Templar Assassin, Windranger, Batrider, Meepo, Invoker, and a few others, iLTW offers Team Nigma with a much broader horizon to draft from. Ranging from heroes like Invoker and Shadow Fiend to heroes like Morphling and Ember Spirit, iLTW has played it all.
On top of being an extremely stable mid-laner, iLTW has also featured as a carry player in the past during his stints with Virtus Pro and OG. This further means that Miracle, who has been widely regarded as one of the best mid-laners in Dota 2 history, could often be presented with an option to swap roles with iLTW.
This will also allow KuroKy to confuse opponents during the drafting stages. However, having said all that, it is obvious that Team Nigma will be looking to bounce back with gusto after a disappointing showing in the Dota 2 Major.
As for how this new roster shuffle will impact Team Nigma's gameplay in Dota 2 will only be known once they face off against Team Secret on 17 April.
