Former Nord Esports bot laner, Nihat ‘Innaxe’ Aliev, has announced they’ll be taking a break from competitive play.
The news comes after Nord Esports’ roster shuffle heading into the Summer season of the Northern League of Legends Championship (NLC).
The Bulgarian-British player will hope to return to professional play for the 2026 season.
Nord Esports roster changes
After falling short to Los Ratones twice within the span of weeks, Nord Esports have decided to adjust for the coming season.
Frederik ‘NoWay’ Hinteregger, Nihat ‘Innaxe’ Aliev, and Alf-Kristian ‘Nash’ Sund have all left the team as part of Nord Esports’ roster changes.
Taking their place will be Artur ‘Zwyroo’ Trojan, Gian ‘Hid0’ Caruana, and Erik ‘Treatz’ Wessén.
Hid0 joins the team after recently beating cancer over the past year.
Nord Esports have consistently finished in the top three of the NLC for the past few years.
However, the roster changes may change the order, coming into the NLC Summer Seeding.
Also joining the team will be former two time EU LCS (now LEC) winner, Fabian ‘Febiven’ Diepstraten.
He joins as assistant coach alongside Jonathan ‘just jon’ Ellis and performance coach Nikolaj ‘ScottyMcScoot’ Prescott.
Innaxe to take competitive break
On social media, Innaxe shared that he would take a competitive break after not securing a contract for the Summer Split.
Innaxe explained his situation by stating:
“There just wasn’t any offers that matched what I wanted for summer, as expected with the current state of ERLs”.
However, it should be stated that the NLC has become Europe’s most popular league, according to viewership.
For now, the Bulgarian-British player has resolved to focus on 1-to-1 coaching whilst on this break.
Presumably streaming his soloq game during this time as well.
NLC 2025 Summer
The NLC restarts for the Summer Seeding later this month, to determine their place in the Summer Playoffs.
The Grand Finals of NLC Summer will be held in Stockholm, Sweden, after the success of the Spring Finals in Copenhagen.
Los Ratones enter as the favourites, after securing both NLC and EMEA Masters Spring titles.
Nord Esports will also be favoured on LoL betting sites with their consecutive NLC finals appearances.
Meanwhile, British teams Ruddy Sack and Verdant will look to build momentum from their previous successes during the Spring Playoffs.
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