Rumored to have left his team for the greener grass at Virtus.pro, Natus Vincere’s Bakyt “Zayac” Emilzhanov has indeed now swapped teams, but not without stirring the pot. Na’Vi CEO Yevhen Zolotarov went public with how the whole situation happened and explained how their direct competitors in the region poached the player directly and advised him how to force Na’Vi’s hand to release him.

In a video published last night on the Na’Vi Youtube channel, the organization CEO explained that right after the Leipzig Major everything was just fine, the players accepted their defeat and understood the drafting problems that led to the result. The atmosphere between all team members was good and they were already planning the next round of qualifiers, when Zayac informed the organization CEO that he wants to leave Na’Vi to join Virtus. pro. There was no negotiation in the process; moreover, Zayac messaged Yevhen Zolotarov directly pointing out some legal context from his contract that would allow him to leave the team with no obligations.

Na’Vi CEO explained in the video published that Zayc’s contract with Na’Vi had some “grey areas” which can be interpreted differently, but he also pointed out that the player and the new Virtus.pro CEO messaged him very close in time, both brining to discussion the same grey lines in Zayc’s contract, which was enough for Yevhen Zolotarov to infer that VP actually advised the player how to proceed.

Yevhen Zolotarov even stated that his guess is that the message from Zayac might not even be written by himself, but rather by someone who understands exactly the contractual terms. Zayac’s message to Na’Vi’s CEO highlighted which parts of his contract are allowing him to leave the team without notice. “If there is an issue, you can go to court,” he wrote to Yevhen Zolotarov.

The next step in all this situation happened between the Na’Vi CEO and the new VP CEO, mister Sergey Glamazda, who reached an agreement and a transaction fee for Zayac. However, Na’Vi decided to not take the money, and instead to go public and share all the information, hoping that a similar situation won’t repeat in the future. The video is rather lengthy and it unveils the whole situation with Zayac starting from the post TI9 days to present.

Yevhen Zolotarov explained that after TI9 Zayac wanted to leave to Gambit Esports, but later on he changed his mind. His contract was extended right after TI9 until the end of 2020, everyone’s salaries were doubled, more than that, the new contracts gave the players the chance to double their already doubled salaries, depending on the DPC results. However, because at the time of signing the new contracts, Zayac was also considering to leave for Gambit, his contract “included a part where he had to notify Na’Vi about his decision until the end of November,” and it seems that is was the part that Zayac used to force his exit from Na’Vi now, without a transaction fee or any responsibilities.

While Yevhen Zolotarov admits that is Na’Vi’s fault that Zayac’s contractual clause wasn’t revised after November 2019, he expresses his frustration with how VP handled things and approaced the player directly, instead of taking the normal route, and talk with the organization first.

Na’Vi’s CEO also talks in the video about how other player transfers were handled in the past, also shedding light on the famous RodjER – Lil, transfer between the orgs. He even talks openly about the transfer fees in the CIS region, stating that RodjER’s buy-out was the biggest sum payed for a player in CIS, $150,000. According to him Ramzes’ buy-out fee was $100,000, while normally these fees are around $20,000 – $30,000.

While Zayc is now a member of Virtus.pro, Na’Vi will play in the regional qualifiers for the ESL One Los Angeles Major with Semion “CemaTheSlayer” Krivulya standing in. If he becomes a full member of Na’Vi remains to be discussed after the qualifier process. In the meantime, Virtus.pro haven’t made any comment on the matter.

Current Na’Vi roster: