Without too much drama, the recently concluded shuffle period offered plenty of interesting swaps in Dota 2. Big moves were made by the powerhouses in each region and quite a few up-and-coming teams have a good chance of making the extra jump required to get into the world’s elite based on the signings they have made.
Let’s have a look at how the key teams fared:
Team Liquid
Out: JerAx, FATA-
In: Miracle-, BuLba
Team Liquid grabbed the most talked about player of 2016 and the first to achieve a 9000 MMR rating; former OG midlaner Miracle-. The deal was always likely when former midlaner FATA- announced his plans to take a six-month break from competitive Dota. Miracle- was also spotted playing pub games with MinD_ContRoL and KuroKy, and this only strengthened the rumours.
BuLba has played as an offlaner both for Secret and EG this year, but had little success with either. His new role will be a support, and he does have some experience in this position while playing for Team Tinker. Known more for his knowledge of the game and decision making than his mechanical skills, he will fill the vacant spot left by JerAx.
Roster:
MATUMBAMAN – position 1
Miracle- – position 2
MinD_ContRoL – position 3
BuLba – position 4/5
KuroKy (c) – position 4/5
OG
Out: Miracle-, Cr1t-, MoonMeander
In: ana, s4, JerAx
Another of the European teams upon which most fans and pundits focused, OG had to deal with the departures of Miracle- and Cr1t-, while MoonMeander was kicked. Despite the heavy blow of losing two of the most consistent performers in Dota 2, old friends N0tail and Fly fulfilled their promise of forming a new and exciting roster off the back of it.
The first quality signing is s4, who joined from an Alliance team that was falling apart. The Swedish midlaner, famous for his “million-dollar dream coil”, will have a new role in the team in the offlane position.
The other big name they landed was support star JerAx, who decided to leave Team Liquid after their disappointing 7-8th performance at TI 6.
The one who has to fill Miracle-‘s shoes is Australian Anathan “ana” Pham. He is relatively new to high level Dota after enjoying a mere five month spell at iG earlier this year.
Roster:
N0tail – position 1
ana – position 2
s4 – position 3
JerAx – position 4
Fly (c) – position 5
Team Secret
Out: Arteezy, BuLba, EternaLEnVy
In: MP, Forev, MidOne
Team Secret had a controversial year as after winning the Shanghai Major back in March, captain Puppey went for debatable roster changes and the new team failed to make any impact or live up to expectations.
After their bottom four finish at TI 6, it was clear that Team Secret would be one of the most active teams on the market again. Arteezy left after his second spell turned out to be something of a disappointment, while EternaLEnVy decided that it was time for him to create his own team in Canada.
BuLba’s stay was short-lived as he rejoined Team Liquid, leaving owner Puppey and his support teammate pieliedie as the only ones left standing.
This time, the search for players made Puppey turn his eyes to Asia. Three players from the SEA region arrived – Korean duo MP and Forev from MVP, as well as the former Fnatic midlaner MidOne from Malaysia. How they cope should be interesting as none of these three have played outside of their respective countries.
Roster:
MP – position 1
MidOne – position 2
Forev – position 3
Puppey (c) – position 4/5
pieliedie – position 4/5
Fnatic
Out: MidOne, 343, DJ
In: DeMoN, Raven, eyyou
Fnatic had a great year with one of the most successful rosters in their Dota 2 history. After the 4th place finish at TI 6, however, the team lost three of their players. The hugely influential DJ decided to return home and play for Execration, 343 went for a break, while MidOne ventured into uncharted territory by joining the European outfit Team Secret.
Fnatic’s new trio were snatched directly from one of the surprises of TI 6 – TnC. The Philippine underdogs knocked out super-favourites OG and surprised everyone with their 7-8th place finish. DeMoN made a great comeback after being irrelevant on the pro scene for more than a year at TI 6. Raven is an experienced player in the Philippines, while eyyou is a young and promising support. The new captain will be DeMoN, so Mushi will have all the time to focus on his play.
Roster:
Raven – position 1
Mushi – position 2
Ohaiyo – position 3
eyyou– position 4
DeMoN (c) – position 5
EG
Out: Fear, ppd
In: Arteezy, Cr1t-
EG had a poor year in which the defending TI 5 champions did not manage to win a single Premier tournament. However, signing back UNiVeRsE and zai in June proved to be key to the team’s ascent to 3rd spot at TI 6.
While speculation that Arteezy would return after TI 6 was not unsubstantiated, it was not clear how the roster would incorporate potentially six players. Surprisingly or not, Fear then decided to retire and focus on recovering from an arm injury, leaving as a legend and one of the most respected players in the pro scene. He was unexpectedly joined in retirement by ppd, who decided to be a part of a business project with TwitchTV, thus leaving the position 5 open.
Arteezy fills the vacant role in position 1 and will play hard carry – something with which he is not unfamiliar. Meanwhile, the new captain and drafter Cr1t- will have big shoes to fill as ppd left a reputation of being one of the best drafters in the game. This is Cr1t-‘s second top tier team after OG and it will be the first time he will undertake the captain role at this high a level.
Roster:
Arteezy – position 1
Suma1L – position 2
UNiVeRsE – position 3
zai – position 4
Cr1t- (c) – position 5
The Fall Shuffle offered plenty of exciting and attention-grabbing transfers in each of Dota’s regions. While some of those changes seemed strategical and well thought out, others went for more daring and experimental rosters.
All in all, North America have their leading team in the form of EG, Team Liquid and OG will aim to continue last season’s dominance in Europe with Team Secret hoping to return to former glories, while Fnatic will aim to get a firm hold over the SEA Region.
