Dota 2: Ninjas in Pyjamas Removes Universe From its Roster

Universe is no longer a part of Ninjas in Pyjamas.

As much as the Dota 2 fans thought that COVID-19 won’t affect the pro scene, this didn’t happen. After the DPC was pretty much suspended, some teams also decided to make roster changes.

One of the biggest reasons for these changes is the fact that all tournaments are online. At first, this doesn’t seem like that big of an issue but when you start to think about it, it makes sense.

Many of the top Dota 2 teams have players from different regions. There is nothing wrong with that when they are playing LAN. However, in online tournaments, time-zone differences have a drastic impact. As a result, it can be pretty frustrating for a NA player to play in EU timezones and vise-versa.

Universe leaves NiP

Saahil “Universe” Arora is one of the most famous offlane players in the world. He used to be the best player in this position, especially during TI 5 where he won the event with EG. However, the NA teams’ performance wasn't that great after that, which is why he left.

After a couple of months of back and forth, he decided to team up with Peter “ppd” Dagger in Ninjas in Pyjamas. Ppd was the captain of EG when they won TI, so the two players have some history together.

Despite the good start, NiP wasn’t really capable of achieving what they wanted. However, there was a glimmer of hope of them because they somehow ended up in the Major that was going to be held in March. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the organizers to close the event.

Now, considering the fact that Universe is in the US, NiP decided to make some roster changes. As a result, Universe will no longer be apart of the roster. Here is what the NiP’s website had to say about it:

“Due to the situation with COVID-19 and the consequent move to regional competition, we are forced to restructure our line-up in DotA2 to ensure continued practice and competition. Therefore, we have to make the tough decision of releasing Saahil “UNIVERSE” Arora from the roster.”

Who will fill in his slot?

Unfortunately, we don’t know yet the name of the player who will take the role of Universe in NiP. For now, the team will be playing with a stand-in but we should have some information soon.

Here is NiP’s current roster:

• Nikita “Daxak” Kuzmin
• Jason Connor “TANNER” Weedon
• Rodrigo “Lelis” Santos
• Peter “ppd” Dagger

Expect more information about this soon. In the meantime, be sure to follow us on our social media accounts.