Dota 2 analyst and streamer Yaroslav "NS" Kuznetsov reflected on the criticism directed at Danil "Dendi" Ishutin. He noted that while he may sarcastically comment on his current gameplay, he never undermines the contributions of the player to the professional scene's development.
"No one is badmouthing Dendi. Only a fool belittles past achievements. There's no point in diminishing them, but we always need to understand that they are past achievements. You can evaluate any person's qualities in the past and in the present. Don't mix them up. A person could be a great professional or singer in the past, and now turn out to be something else entirely.
Danya is the greatest player. One of the greatest in the history of the game. A TI champion and a two-time runner-up. A generation of new players learned from his replays. Many of them, without sarcasm, said they started playing when they saw Danya's performances. But that was then.
Now the situation has changed. It's okay to criticize Dendi now without belittling his past achievements. They were there and won't disappear. But right now, reaching victory at TI seems a bit far off for us at B8. We're a bit off track." - Yaroslav "NS" Kuznetsov
Previously, NS opposed major changes in Dota 2. In his opinion, developers should focus on monthly hero balance adjustments and release smaller updates more frequently.