iLTW Recalls Delayed Nigma Salary

Published September 24, 2026

Igor “iLTW” Filatov says he went three to four months without a salary after joining Nigma before receiving $5 thousand per month. The former professional carry revisited the arrangement in a conversation with Roman “RAMZES666” Kushnarev and Andrey “Afoninje” Afonin. His account concerns his own time with the team in 2021 and should be kept separate from the larger salary estimates the other speakers offered during the exchange.

RAMZES666 opened the discussion by asking what iLTW had earned at Nigma. Filatov answered that there had initially been no salary for roughly three or four months and that the later monthly figure was $5 thousand. He then asked whether that meant he had received a poor deal. RAMZES666 thought it did, while Afoninje argued that the amount itself was reasonable for the period. Their disagreement is important because the conversation contained two different issues: a delay before payments began and the size of the salary once they did.

The only personal contract described directly was iLTW’s. RAMZES666 said he had expected a figure around $8 thousand to $10 thousand and believed other Nigma players made at least $15 thousand to $20 thousand. He also referred to what the former Liquid core had earned before forming Nigma. Those numbers were presented as RAMZES666’s understanding, not as payroll records or figures confirmed by the players whose contracts he discussed.

What each speaker actually said

Filatov did not claim to know his teammates’ salaries. When RAMZES666 asked whether he had information about the other contracts, iLTW answered that he did not. That answer draws a useful boundary around the story: his three-to-four-month delay and subsequent $5 thousand monthly salary are his own recollection, while the higher comparisons came from someone else in the discussion.

Afoninje supplied a third perspective by saying $5 thousand was normal for the time. The exchange therefore did not reach a shared verdict. RAMZES666 viewed the arrangement as unexpectedly low, Afoninje defended the monthly amount, and iLTW responded with uncertainty rather than making a broader accusation against the organisation. That distinction preserves the tone of the conversation without turning a salary recollection into an unsupported claim about every Nigma deal.

iLTW joined Nigma in April 2021 and remained with the organisation until May 2022. His spell included a third-place finish at GAMERS GALAXY: Invitational Series Dubai 2022. The dates matter because they identify the period he was describing and prevent the figures from being confused with Nigma’s later rosters or present-day esports salaries.

The conversation also illustrates why salary stories need precise attribution. One participant can reliably describe his own agreement, while comparisons with other players may still be estimates. The compact reference below keeps the direct account, the reactions and the confirmed career timeline in separate rows.

The Nigma period in context

Filatov’s answer adds a financial detail to a period already defined publicly by its roster dates and tournament results. It does not establish why the first payments were delayed, whether money was later paid retroactively, or what every teammate earned. None of those points was resolved in the conversation.

What is clear is the sequence iLTW described: an unpaid opening stretch, followed by a recurring $5 thousand salary, during a tenure that lasted a little over a year. Keeping that sequence intact makes the account more informative than isolating the largest figures mentioned by RAMZES666, which referred to other players and were not confirmed by iLTW.

• First-hand account: iLTW described a three-to-four-month delay and a later salary of $5 thousand per month.
• Context rather than confirmation: RAMZES666 supplied the higher salary estimates, while Afoninje said $5 thousand was normal for the period.

Speaker or record	Confirmed detail
iLTW	Recalled no salary for three to four months, followed by $5 thousand per month.
RAMZES666	Said he had expected $8 thousand-$10 thousand and voiced higher estimates for other players.
Nigma tenure	April 2021 to May 2022; third at GAMERS GALAXY Dubai 2022.

The account is most useful as a precise record of one player’s experience. Filatov gave a timeline and a monthly figure for his own agreement, but declined to claim knowledge of the contracts around him. The wider comparisons remain part of the conversation rather than verified details of Nigma’s payroll.