Maelstorm revealed the true reason behind the disbandment of 9Pandas

Maria "Inverno" Gunina, the former strategy director of 9 Pandas, practically created the team, and after her departure, the roster showed increasingly poor results and eventually fell apart.

Vladimir "Maelstorm" Kuzminov, a Dota 2 commentator and analyst, shared this information during a Twitch stream.

"There was nothing, and then the Pandas appeared. They didn't appear on their own, she [Gunina] came there - she came there and made them. Then she left, and then there was a discord. You can't say that she came to 9 Pandas and destroyed them because they didn't exist before. It was the same with all the teams she worked with"

He emphasized that it would be incorrect to say that Gunina ruined 9 Pandas, as she helped them become a tier-1 team, but after her departure, things started going downhill for the team.

Nevertheless, he pointed out that the blame for the collapse lies not only with the players but also with her.

"Perhaps, for her, it's also an indicator that she's doing something wrong. That despite the results, the team would rather die in the **** than work with her. I see that both sides are wrong here. I see that, for the sake of results, the team is not ready to tolerate her for some reason. Although it's obvious that without her, it's worse. On the other hand, I also see that she doesn't prioritize results in the long term. There can't be a situation where time after time, everyone turns out to be ****, and she alone is right. That can't be either"

Maelstorm pointed to illustrative moments from the biography of the former manager of 9 Pandas. Gunina created not only one strong team, including Winstrike Team and Alliance, but after her departure, these teams fell apart, the commentator emphasized.

It's worth noting that 9 Pandas unexpectedly disbanded after their elimination from The International 2023, even though the team initially denied the breakup.