Dota 2 teams assemble for first DPC qualifier rounds

Team registration for the first Minor and Major events of the new Dota 2 year is now closed. The first round of qualifiers kicks off this weekend but many rosters continue to change after The International’s post-tourney changes.

Chair dance at the big teams

Fans now know the full line-ups for EHOME, Invictus Gaming, J.Storm, Newbee, Ninjas in Pyjamas, VICI Gaming and Virtus.pro. But other surprising developments continue to pop up.

Even though J.Storm already made their roster announcement, Roman “Resolut1on” Fominok left the team. He departed just after they were eliminated in the WePlay! Reshuffle Madness 2019 semis. Resolut1on moved to Virtus.pro, replacing Vladimir “RodjER” Nikogosyan. J.Storm replaces Resolut1ion with Braxton “Brax” Paulson, filling the empty spot on their roster.

After TI9, Alliance announced their intent to make no roster changes, having spent two years building their current team. Sadly, while their players agreed to stay together, they decided to do it elsewhere. Alliance’s whole roster left the organization for another rebuild.

Famed Korean organization T1 announced their entry into the DPC with their first player pickup, Lee “Forev” Sang-don, back in August. However, he since moved on to South East Asia’s Team Jinesbrus. This suggests it may be a while before seeing any T1 branded squad compete.

We are proud to announce our first step into DotA2. Please welcome #Forev – the first member of #T1 #DotA2 !#T1 이 #도타2 에도 출사표를 내려합니다. 그 첫 발걸음을 함께 하기 위해 새롭게 영입된 #Forev #이상돈 선수를 소개합니다. pic.twitter.com/A14A2jV9nx

— T1 (@T1) August 22, 2019

New stacks emerge

Apart from household names, we’ve also had a few interesting new stacks emerge. Sumail “SumaiL” Syed Hassan left Evil Geniuses after being benched in favor of Abed “Abed” Yusop. He is now a part of Quincy Crew, a team that includes his brother Yawar “YawaR” Hassan.

Adrian “Fata” Trinks and Neta “33” Shapira too have left former employer Ninjas in Pyjamas to form a squad of their own. NiP, in turn, brings in four new players, including Saahil “Universe” Arora and Nico “Gunnar” Lopez, only holding onto Peter “ppd” Dager.

Carlo “Kuku” Palad, one of the biggest controversies of the 2018-19 season, will join Geek Fam with Kim “DuBu” Doo-young and Marc Polo Luis “Raven” Fausto. Meanwhile, compLexity Gaming’s Otávio “Tavo” Gabriel found refuge at FURIA Esports after the former disbanded their Dota 2 team.

Finally, just before the registration deadline, Maurice “KheZu” Gutmann made a surprising announcement. After leaving Team Chaos earlier last month, he is now teaming up with Jerry “EGM” Lundkvist and Charlie “Charlie” Arat at GODSENT.

WITNESS GODSENT DOTA 2 ?️

Today we proudly announce the team that will represent Godsent in the EU Pro Circuit. It’s filled with Swedish blood and a kingly german player well known amongst the people of dotes. Let’s go @charliedota @ChessieDota @KheZu @FollowEGM @Xibbe ?? pic.twitter.com/yPU5HWrlny

— GODSENT (@GODSENTgg) September 28, 2019

Let the games begin

PSG.LGD and Team Secret are still on holiday and TI9 champions OG are unsure of their plans. Accounting for them, which of the announced teams are your favorites for the first batch of DPC points? And which team do you think will make it intact to Stockholm’s TI10 next year?

The qualifiers for the DOTA Summit 11 and MDL Chengdu Major run from October 5 to October 10. Thirteen Major and six Minor slots are divided at the tourney, with the remainder decided by Valve.

Written by Xander Teunissen