Team Empire, one of the more prominent esports organizations, have just announced the departure of Artur 'Goblak' Kostenko and Airat 'Silent' Gaziev from their Dota 2 squad. The change comes following a down turn in performance and a continued struggle to return to past form.
The slump began when then-team captain Gleb 'Funn1k' Lipatikov departed Team Empire and joined Natus Vincere, replacing Sergey 'Ars-Art' Revin. Team Empire managed to secure Ivan 'Vigoss' Shinkarev as a replacement and whilst initial results seemed to be looking up, with Empire making it to the Starladder season finals and finishing first in the Techlabs Moscow tournament, Team Empire struggled to maintain the momentum and results ultimately dipped off.
An inexact translation of a statement issued by Team Empire's manager, Sergei 'Anahronix' Bykovskiy reads: "Artur and Airat quickly became important part of the team and made a big deal evolving it. But, unfortunately, than came that moment, when views on where the team should move in its development parted. Subsequent performance with this roaster was negative and had bad influence on all team. Considering desire of players, managers made a decision about finishing the cooperation. I want to thank guys for a big work that they made and wish them a good luck. It's time to forget past and move on. We will make a selection and find new players. Team will train to please fans with new victories. Support us, we need it as never before".
There's been an outpouring of well-wishing for the two players since the announcement so it seems likely that Goblak and Silent will find new teams, however neither player has yet issued a statement regarding their intentions.
