The Post-DPC Roster Shuffle Begins (UPDATED)
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The Post-DPC Roster Shuffle Begins (UPDATED)
The Dota Pro Circuit 2021 is still technically underway, but some teams are already making serious changes to their rosters! Here’s what happened so far!
Let’s start by saying that Dota 2‘s Lower Division for the DPC 2021 was probably not thought out very well and the criticism towards Valve was well-deserved. During the first season of the DPC, we already saw teams break the rules and get disqualified for match-fixing. Why? Because being at the bottom of the Lower Division yields no return aka they’re not getting paid. Without further ado let’s see which teams already made changes!
- READ MORE: Valve Criticized Over the Dota Pro Circuit 2021
Dota 2 Roster News: NAVI Renews Roster, Brings ArtStyle as New Coach
Preparing for the new season. Valve
It hasn’t been a good year for the Dota 2 team Natus Vincere. There have been difficulties but now, it seems that they are focused on preparing for the new DPC season. The team has brought in some new players and even a new coach.
NAVI had a good start during the recently concluded DPC season. In fact, they managed to qualify for the Singapore Major. Due to some health concerns, they had no choice but to decline from participating in the Major. Things just started to go down from there.
The Past Season
Despite bringing in Roman “RAMZES666” Kushnarev, the team only managed to get a sixth-place finish at Season 2 of the Upper Division for Eastern Europe.
To increase their chances of getting to The International 10 through the qualifiers, they signed Akbar “SoNNeikO” Butaev and Vladimir “No[o]ne” Minenko. Although starting at the Upper Bracket, they were later dropped to the Lower Bracket and then promptly eliminated. NAVI had to settle for 5th-6th place.
With this, the future of the team became uncertain and when SoNNeikO left, the entire roster was put on inactive status. Later on RAMZES666, Vladimir “RodjER” Nikogosian, and even coach Andrey “Mag” Chipenko left the team.
Renewed Roster
It turns out NAVI only needed a couple of months to recover and have a new beginning. Two new players have been signed that completed its roster:
- Alik “V-Tune” Vorobey
- Vladimir “No[o]ne” Minenko
- Viktor “GeneRaL” Nigrini
- Ilya “ALOHADANCE” Korobkin (NEW)
- Alexey “Solo” Berezin (NEW)
Support System
It’s not only a new roster as NAVI has also brought in new people for its back-end. Serving as the new manager is Alexander “Lk-“ Lemeshev, who previously worked with Vega Squadron and Team Unique.
Ivan “ArtStyle” Antonov, meanwhile, has been signed as the new coach and general manager. NAVI shared in a statement that ArtStyle was, in fact, responsible for this new roster, and they’ll be starting the monthly boot camp later this month.
There’s no question that the name NAVI has a long history in competitive Dota 2. After all, it was the first team to ever win The International. The question now is whether this new roster can surpass those past achievements and carve their own.
Vikin.gg (Western Europe)
We will be lying if we didn’t feel saddened by Vikin.gg’s disband. Since their debut, Vikin.gg has proved themselves to be a mainstay among the European challengers. They had frequent encounters with high-profile teams, such as Team Secret and OG. Occasionally, they even gave their rivals a run for their money.
Yet, the DPC 2021 season has been rough for the young squad, especially the Singapore Major qualifiers. They flopped the Upper Division S1 league and were demoted to Lower Division in the second season. Although Vikin.gg remained optimistic at pursuing their dreams longer, it seems like missing TI10 was the nail on the coffin. Frankly, Vikin.gg’s disband came as a shock because they already secured an Upper Division slot for the DPC 2022 season. Well, only time will tell about Vikin.gg’s future plans.
We’re proud of everything we’ve achieved together and we wish them nothing but the best.
The Dota 2 competitive scene is as vigorous as it always has been this time of the year. The problem is with Ti10 postoponed, there is a huge gap between now and the event to source the top talent and to do a proper roster shuffle. Many teams may disband “early” and potentially miss out on tournaments between now and October.
We are aware everyone is looking forward to the new DPC 2022 season, and there’s no time to sob over missing TI10. But dumping a roster too early might result in some missed opportunities at other third-party organized events. Speaking of TI10, catch the Dota 2 betting action coming this fall. Eighteen teams compete for millions, and we’ll be there to guide you through it all.