After a three-year stint under the Alliance banner, Nikobaby announced during one of his streams that he is ready to hang the mouse.
Nikolay "Nikobaby" Nikolov made himself noticed back in 2019 with Minkeski under Chai "Mushi" Yee Fung guidance through TI9. After the event wrapped up in China, Nikobaby returned to the European region where he was recruited by Alliance.
Through the past three years, he’s’ been the constant of the Alliance’s multiple roster iterations, the goal with each shuffle being to rebuild around him. However, Alliance struggled through the DPC leagues, making just two Major appearances with underwhelming results in both and then bouncing between Division I and Division II WEU regional leagues.
Most recently, the final blow came in the TI11 regional qualifiers, where the Swedish organization was knocked out of contention for a spot at the biggest tournament of the year or to Last Chance Qualifiers by Janne "Gorgc" Stefanovski’s Team Bald Reborn.
Alliance dropped the entire line-up in the TI11 regional qualifiers aftermath, also parting ways with Nikobaby, whose been the centrepiece for all their rosters for the past three years.
While Alliance already announced plans for putting together a full new team for the next DPC year, Nikobaby revealed on his stream that he is ready to end his competitive career.
I’m not going to continue being a pro, one hundred percent - Nikolay "Nikobaby" Nikolov -
“My plan is to stream for now and do a podcast,” Nikobaby said to his Twitch viewers on October 10, 2022. He mentioned that he wishes to stream every day and do his own podcast also on Twitch. “I’m thinking about the questions and the content that will be in the podcast. It might come out in the next ten days or so”, Nikobaby mentioned.
During the Q&A session from the aforementioned stream, the 25 years old carry said that he feels burnt out from competing and that he wants to turn “a new page” in his life. “Now I just read a lot, try to learn about life, and connect with people. We’ll see, I haven’t planned a future too far ahead,” Nikobaby said.
With The International 2022 just about to begin in Singapore on the 15th of October, and a massive shuffle bound to happen at the end of the tournament, Nikobaby’s retirement plans might get overturned. But until then, his first podcast episode will feature Alliance’s CEO, Jonathan “Loda” Berg.
