Trying to uncover the truth behind HObbit’s short PARIVISION stint was confusing

Sometimes you think you have a simple premise for a story: a player got kicked after one event, their coach set him a challenge when he joined, 1+1=2, he failed the challenge.

It's never that easy in practice.

When the news of HObbit being replaced by FL1T first broke, we didn't even really think twice about it. We heard a mangled version of a dastan quote from an interview with a streamer that made me think he was auditioning HObbit for a role, which was partly true. dastan did make HObbit gain ELO on Faceit. The thing is, he did it successfully; in fact, he gained 2000 ELO. And… that was all that was asked. There was nothing more to the challenge, one he seemingly passed.

So then, why was he kicked?

The more you know, the less you understand

The first clue was staring right at our faces: The announcement.

On their own Telegram, PARIVISION's announcement had a very key word: "Abay's debut as a stand-in player will take place in China." Stand-in, how could we have missed that? Clearly he was never meant to be permanent; HLTV even asked for comment at the time on his contract length. (Though as far as their article shows, they never got it. There was no update, at least)

That makes sense, but wait, what did dastan say in that quote about the challenge, the one we misremembered earlier?

I kept HObbit in my head the whole time. Even when I'd only just come to PARIVISION, I thought it would be good to bring him in. But he was on a team then, so we couldn't get him… Now we are adapting him into the system of the new PARIVISION, to become even more solid and stable. Stability matters to me. I want our baseline level to rise, so we can play well even on days that aren't our best.

We removed the part about the ELO, but does that sound like a coach signing someone as a stand-in?

The more you listen to dastan, the more it sounds like he thought this had a long-term timeline. He constantly goes on about how his leadership was going to help, and nothing he said gave the impression anything would change. He was largely complimentary after XSE as well, where he gave even more information:

dastan, on his own Telegram:

This season has come to an end… As for China, I can say that Slava and Abay showed themselves well over the course of their first tournament. We're on holiday now… After the break, we'll be waiting for invites from 3 August. We'll gather at the bootcamp and train. We'll try to show good CS at EWC.

That doesn't sound like a coach making changes. That sounds like someone reflecting on his season and getting ready to practice with this roster.

In our view, the only conclusions you can make with that information are as follows:

1. dastan, the same guy who is so honest he critiques his players in intereviews, was fully lying the whole time, trying to protect a stand-in. He said what he did to defend a player he knew wasn't good enough until he'd leave. In CS2, very possible, and something coaches do a lot. But again, it's very out of character for dastan, he never shies away from critique.

2. PARIVISION might have signed HObbit on the "short term", but it was a much shorter term than they expected for some reason.

This would be a lot easier to answer if PARIVISION told us what the terms of HObbit's original deal were, the same question HLTV asked when he was announced. Just in case, though, we also reached out to PARIVISION while writing this story. We haven't gotten word back yet, but if that changes, we'll update the article accordingly.

Until then, the question remains: What was the plan?

Hypothesis

Well, we dug into the timeline, and much like prime MatPat, we have a theory.

We suspect that HObbit was probably only meant to join temporarily, but on a much longer scale than originally expected, and the reasoning this all seems so counterintuitive is because this wasn't in PARIVISION's hands. Instead, it was in VP's. Consider the following:

PARIVISION has long coveted FL1T, as there were reports from OverDrive as early as June 2025 that this was in consideration, but VP tried a very brash re-config with Perfecto that died within a month. We also know that VP had FL1T under contract until 2027, and that their buyouts are very high as we found out this player break that FL4MUS was being quoted at 700K.

So, knowing that FL1T only had a few months left on his deal, we suspect they signed HObbit on an approximately six-month contract to tide them over until after the Singapore Major, when FL1T would've became free.

This would fit the "stand-in" wording combined with the leadership quotes from dastan. If HObbit had six months to work with the team, he could leave a lasting impact before leaving. Looking at his previous quotes in that context makes his statements far more logical in our view.

Then, as for why it ended early: The market changed.

Only three days after dastan's end-of-season Telegram, FL4MUS is bought out by GL, giving VP much-needed funds. The same day, PARIVISION loans BELCHONOKK out to TDK (now 1win). Coincidentally, another two days later, PARIVISION wins Dota 2 at EWC in Paris, giving them $750,000 USD in prize money.

Not only are VP now way less desperate for money, PARIVISION suddenly have a lot more of the stuff.

Fast forward twelve days later, FL1T signs with PARIVISION and HObbit is released with a very shallow statement from the CEO.

Now, the reason we think this was VP-led, or at least mostly VP-led, is as follows:

Right after this, VP also sold fame to 1win, and then released Perfecto. They cleared out their entire bench in eighteen days after holding on to them for so long. It's a very notable change of tactics, given VP's strategy of maximizing buyout value. Odds are, they got enough money from GL to be satisfied and saw that the rest of their assets were ticking time bombs.

So, they took whatever deals were around, benefiting a building team like 1win and giving PARIVISION an opportunity to get their man earlier. At which point, HObbit wasn't needed anymore.

Ultimately, until PARIVISION responds to us or VP speaks up, we can only guess. But after analyzing the timeline of events, this is the best guess we have. At the very least, it satisfies the nagging curiosity in our heads that acts up whenever a roster move doesn't make sense to us makes headlines.

Now, all that's left to see is if FL1T is the man to pull PARIVISION over the line, or if this was all a waste of time.