The Dota 2 Spring Shuffle gave us more than 400 transfers among Dotas best teams and players. Here are the 13 you should remember.
More than 400 player joined of left their team in the past three weeks. All teams had to update their roster and lock it for the next six months until after the International 2016. Only locked rosters are potentially able to be selected for invites to Valve event. And there will be two very important once in the upcoming Spring and Summer Season: The Manila Major is set for the beginning of June and features a prize pool of 3,000,000 dollar once again. In August of course there is the International, the most important tournament of the year. Though no numbers are known yet, it is save to assume that it will pay out more than last year – which already saw a record breaking 18.4 million dollar.
So here are the 13 transfers that excite us about the Summer Season.
13. Fantastic Five refounded
The [fantastic five 2015] were a team created for the Fall Season by [bzz], [yol] and [ghostik]. They won two minor tournaments in the Season but weren’t successful at major championships, so the team disbanded in January. Now it is back: Former Na’Vi-player [xboct] and the german [rmn] complete the squad this time.
12. Polarity founded
The only new team to enter the top scene in this Dota 2 Spring Shuffle is [polarity]. While we are sceptical about the life expectancy of the team, it features well-known players such as [dkphobos] and [lil] who formerly played for [virtus.pro], [9pashaebashu] from the [vega squadron] and [afoninje] who used to be a part of [hellraisers] before. The team is already the 12th most strongest in our trend ranking.
11. Team Archon disbands
Winning the american qualifier for a Major seems to be a bad thing. After the Frankfurt Major, [unknown.xiu] disbanded and this time [team archon] does the same. [moo], [waytosexy] and [ztok] left the team a few days ago to join three different american teams.
10. Team Spirit grows stronger
Another participant of the Shanghai Major grew stronger instead: [team spirit] replaced the loss of [ramzes666] and [afterlife] by VPs [illidan] and Empires [funn1k]. We think this team has a bright future ahead.
9. Vega Squadron has to replace one of their best
As mentioned, [9pashaebashu] now plays for [polarity]. That means the [vega squadron] had to find a replacement for him: [fn] is the lucky one, having played as a substitute several times before.
8. Invictus Gaming completely reshuffles their teams
The Shanghai Major was a disaster for chinese teams and so to no surprise every major team from China reshuffled their roster heavily in this Dota 2 Spring Shuffle. [invictus gaming] for example degraded [super1] and [xuan] into their B-team [ig.vitality] and promoted four players of this B-team into their main roster. Besides, [rabbit] and [luo] had to leave IG too. That’s a bold move. Let’s see if it pays off.
7. EHOME and Vici Gaming switch players
Both [ehome.cn] and [vici gaming] also shuffled their teams while trading some players between them: [fenrir] and [iceiceice] went from Vici to EHOME, [cty] the other way around. Plus, Vici signed [rotk] from [lgd gaming], degraded [fy] into their B-team [vici gaming reborn] and dropped [super2] completely.
6. Team Empire rebuild the team completely
[team empire] had an unsatisfying Winter Season. The russian team didn’t make it to the Shanghai Major, lost [resolut1on] midway through the season and [xboct] some time later. For the upcoming Season, Empire completely rebuild their team. [funn1k], [alohadance] and [n0fear] had to leave. Instead Team Spirits newcomer [ramzes666], [afterlife] and the former Empire-player [scandal] from the new team. The outcome is uncertain.
5. Virtus.pro suffers heavy losses
Another russian team that suffered heavy losses in the Dota 2 Spring Shuffle is [virtus.pro]. They lost both [dkphobos] and [lil]. On the other hand the team could sign [alohadance], [n0fear] from Team Empire and the teamless [yoky].
4. DigitalChaos steps up its game
On paper, DigitalChaos is one of the strongest american teams behind [evil geniuses] of course. But they never made it to a Major, neither Frankfurt nor Shanghai. So for the Summer Season, DC signed the best players it could get: [w33] and [misery] from [team secret], [saksa] from [mamas boys] and [moo] from [team archon]. Only [resolut1on] remains from the old squad, the rest had to go.
3. CDEC Gaming becomes a real challenger again
[cdec gaming] was the bright chinese star of the past summer and fall but the teams performance has weakened since then. For the Summer Season, CDEC signed [yao] from LGD, [super2] from Vici and [rabbit] from Invictus. This makes them one of the strongest teams in the world again on paper. Let’s see if they can play like one in future tournaments too.
2. Evil Geniuses lose two key players
The [evil geniuses] were one of the top teams that remained unchanged for the longest time since the addition of [suma1l] last summer. This Dota 2 Spring Shuffle however things got worse when [arteezy] and [universe] left for [team secret]. EG reacted by signing [aui_2000] and [bulba] from [digitalchaos]. Both have played for EG before: Aui was dropped for Suma1l last summer while Bulba was part of the team as a player for a brief period in 2012. Plus, [zai] continues to serve as a substitute, though the Swede will finish school in a few weeks and return to competitive Dota then.
1. Team Secret drops two players to get the world best
You wouldn’t think that the reigning champion of the Shanghai Major had to adjust his lineup in any way. But [team secret] struggled throughout the whole Winter Season and was just the ninth best team in this period. So captain [puppey] identified [w33] and [misery] as the weak links and dropped them from the roster. Instead he signed [arteezy] and [universe], also weakening the hardest rival in the process. Secret is set for the Manila Major and with this lineup looks like the team to beat.