Analyst and streamer Yaroslav "NS" Kuznetsov weighed in on the behavior of Gleb "kiyotaka" Zyranov during the qualifiers for The International 2024 Dota 2 tournament. Kuznetsov likened the 9Pandas mid laner to Ivan "Artstyle" Antonov, a legendary player known for his boldness.
"When the throne falls, Kiyotaka starts posting emojis. After Asdekor_r from Yellow Submarine used brackets, I immediately knew they wouldn't recover. It's a psychological thing. I chatted with Kiyotaka a bit, not a lot, but enough to realize that Kiyotaka is like the reincarnation of Artstyle. He even looks a lot like him," NS commented.
"And Artstyle he’s practically the guy with the biggest guts on the pro scene, at least in-game," NS continued. "Back in Artstyle's day, there were no in-game taunts. If there were, he would have been the one taunting everyone hard. But if someone taunted him back... I think Artstyle would have fiercely fought back until the throne, and everything else, fell. That's why it was clear that Yellow Submarine lost the losers' final after that emoji."
During the match, Kiyotaka and Asdekor_r frequently taunted each other after kills and used brackets in the all-chat. Ultimately, 9Pandas won the series 2:1, and Zyranov capped it off with another smiley.
At the time of this report, 9Pandas are playing against 1win in the finals of the qualifiers. Zyranov’s team lost the first map. The winner will secure a spot at The International 2024.