Retired Bulgarian player, Nikolay “Nikobaby” Nikolov, has announced his return to the pro Dota 2 scene, quoting ‘LFT’. That stands for ‘Looking For Team’ in esports terms, which means Nikobaby is eyeing for any Dota 2 teams that might want to scout out his talent.

Nikobaby returns to Dota 2 Esports

Nikobaby’s tweet definitely caught many fans and teams’ attention when it went public. However, it’s important to note that Nikobaby didn’t just announce this without any preparations.

It started late last year when the carry player reached 12,000 MMR in November 2024, and only a month later, 13,000 MMR. Then, on 22 January 2025, he reached a whopping 14,000 MMR. What made this accomplishment even more impressive is that he achieved this within a month!

With such tremendous results, Nikobaby proved that he is back in tip-top performance, even after his two-year retirement from the pro Dota 2 scene.

13k-14k in less than a month pic.twitter.com/CmTWP3YMV1

— Nikobaby (@NikoDOTA) January 22, 2025

Nikobaby’s pro-Dota 2 career

There’s a good reason why Nikobaby is renowned for his skills. His most prominent era was during his role as hard carry player in Alliance from 2019-2022. Alliance wasn’t the best Dota 2 team at the time, but they definitely gave many powerhouses a run for their money. Notably, they won DreamLeague S12, were a staple in the Dota Pro Circuit and placed ninth at the International 2021 (TI10). Sure, ninth place isn’t something to scream home about, but TI10 being the TI with the largest prize pool in record, meant that Alliance won $800,000 at the time.

And these feet are certainly thanks to Nikobaby’s contribution. His versatile hero pool, coupled with his terrifying presence as an aggressive hard carry player makes him a threat to many opponents. However, if there are signature heroes that we would associate Nikobaby’s expertise to, it’s Morphling and Slark.

Which team will Nikobaby play for in 2025?

While we still don’t know which team Nikobaby will play for, it’s fun to speculate, especially with the diverse number of Dota 2 teams that can use a top-tier hard carry player like himself.

A pro player of such calibre will likely only join high-profile teams that have promising teammates themselves. For instance, Gaimin Gladiators could use a new hard carry player, especially since their crippling performance after Anton “dyrachyo” Shkredov left.

Another potentially good fit would be team OG, where they are struggling to play around their current hard carry player, Nuengnara “23savage” Teeramahanon.

And, Nigma Galaxy’s Amer “Miracle–” Al-Barkawi just feels so out of place in their recent games. And considering even their temporary stand-in for the latter, Daniel “Ghost” Chan, had better results, Nigma can really consider Nikobaby in their line-up.

Regardless of which team Nikobaby eventually joins, many fans and rivals will be thrilled of his debut and return to competitive Dota 2.