The post-TI shuffle is in full swing and it may be the most chaotic shuffle yet. Almost every TI attendant seems to change their line-up to some degree or another, giving birth to a few new teams. And as new blood enters the scene, new possibilities emerge for established brands. Former rivals are now teammates and formerly unknown faces join established superstars.
OG
Formerly named Monkey Business, OG prided itself as a team based on friendship. The roster persevered throughout the entire season and was able to acquire two Major titles. The devastating loss at TI seemed to create doubt in some players’ minds and Cr1t and Miracle decided to leave the squad to pursue new adventures. Their teams are yet to be revealed, though there are rumors floating around regarding possible pickups from EG and Liquid.
Following their departure, Moon was kicked from the team, as the core of Fly and N0tail believed to be able to field a stronger team without him. They picked up former Liquid player JerAx and former Alliance drafter s4, as well as former Invictus Gaming player ana. Ana is an Australian player that had not been able to succeed with iG, though his individual performances seemed promising. He’s expected to take on the midrole, with s4 apparently trying himself as offlaner.
Team Secret
The European fan favorite surrounding captain Puppey has failed to live up to expectations ever since their Shanghai Major title run. The squad even risked going through the open qualifier of TI6 to improve their roster’s quality, but Secret placed last at TI, a devastating finishing result for veterans and stars in their squad.
Secret has now parted ways with half of their roster as only Puppey and pieliedie remain. Joining the two supports will be three core players from South-East Asia. Forev and MP have left MVP.Phoenix after a successful year, going from a top 8 team at TI5 to now top6 at TI6. Their new adventure will draw them to Europe to take on a new scene. They’ll be accompanied by former Fnatic midplayer and playmaker MidOne, who’s been able to place 4th with his former teammates.
It’s a new adventure and a first for 3 SEA players to relocate to Europe and try their luck there. Similarly, there’s an argument to be made that this is no longer an all-star line-up anymore, though all of these players have proven on the big stage that they are top-class.
Fnatic
As a top 4 finisher, one could argue that Fnatic has only little to change in their line-up. The team drops parts ways with three players though as yet again only BOOM.Mushi and Ohy` remain. The two will be joined by South-East Asian upstarters and former TnC players Raven, e and DeMoN.
TnC had an admirable run through the lower bracket of TI and a top 8 finish is something they could tell their grandkids about still. And a large part of why the team got there is certainly to be attributed to the efforts of these three players. Demon proved to be a capable leader, while Raven has shown to be more than just a capable carry, while eyyou showcased strong positioning and playmaking capabilities in the support role.
Team Faceless
Team Faceless is anything but faceless. Fan favorites iceiceice and Black^ reunite after their Vici Gaming adventure and have formed a South-East Asian team that should not be taken lightly. With former MVP player NutZ–who was part of the incredible run at TI5 and who’s a long-term friend of iceiceice–as well as xy, former Team Zenith player and thus also a former iceiceice teammate, the team has the experience to make it far. To add to that, Thai talent J, formerly of Signature.Trust, fits in perfectly with the team’s hunger for success.
There are legitimate concerns regarding the team and whether players like xy-, Jabz or even Nutz can (still) perform at a top level. SEA looks to be incredibly competitive this seasons, so it won’t be easy for Faceless.
Vega Squadron
Teams that don’t attend TI are more likely to change their roster–one could argue. Vega Squadron proved last year that they didn’t need to be such a team, that they believed in their roster. They certainly made a splash but failed to live up to expectations and aside from a title at ESL One New York, the roster achieved nothing to speak of.
A roster change earlier this year saw 9pasha replaced with fn, but following the conclusion of TI, the team has announced two further changes. They acquired CIS supertalent asdqwe and former Virtus.pro captain Fng.
The squad on paper looks promising with a lot of talent, experience and individual skill, but that has never been an issue with CIS. The issue has always been to make the team actually work and reaching that next step of quality, consistency and performance. This looks to be a promising attempt.
Virtus.pro
The CIS reshuffle began slightly earlier than expected as some teams formed before the conclusion of TI. Virtus.pro is such a team. The Russians announced their new roster in the middle of TI.
For the first time in over a year, this Virtus.pro line-up will not feature midplayer G. Instead, former Vega Squadron player No[o]ne- will take on that position. He’ll be joined by his teammate Solo, who’ll play the support role alongside VP returnee lil me alone. To round out the line-up, former Empire player RAMZES666 will play as carry, while former FantasticFive player 9pasha will occupy the offlane.
Digital Chaos
Digital Chaos was on nobody’s radar going into TI and many would argue that the team was likely to reshuffle after the event. After all, these players formed a team together out of necessity, as none of them had a team 2 days prior to the Manila Major roster lock.
Following a marvellous run of a 2nd place finish by the mostly European squad, DC has decided to stay together–for the most part. Offlaner Moo has been removed from the team and been replaced with former OG player MoonMeander. There are questions whether Moo would’ve ever been kicked, had Moon never been removed from OG. Will this roster swap be an upgrade?
Team NP
A new team emerges in this year’s shuffle as former Secret and Cloud 9 teammates EternaLEnVy and Aui_2000 join forces yet again to form Team NP. What looks to be the beginning of a new organization and brand, similar to OG the year before, could be another strong contestant in the North-American scene. With the help of former Secret coach 1437 and former EG & DC coach LoA, the team looks to be well equipped to handle their competition. Former Shazam and Cloud 9 player MSS completes the line-up as the team’s offlaner. Aui_2000 will resume the carry position, while EternaLEnVy will play mid, with svg taking on the 4 role.
South-East Asia Shuffle
There have been a variety of roster announcements in the SEA region, but many of them have warned that these rosters may only be temporary. As MPGL takes place this weekend, many teams may still choose to swap out some of their players, so it’s not worth covering them just yet. That said, it’s very much worth checking out the event and its competition, as it will debut all of the new SEA teams, including the above announced Fnatic.
Na’Vi, Escape Gaming & AD Finem
Not often do teams not change their teams after TI. As players become available, there’s always a certain temptation to acquire the skills of an individual that wasn’t available before. Wildcard winner and last place Escape Gaming however have decided to not change their roster at all. The team formerly known as No Diggity will try to stick it out and sees potential within each other to succeed in the upcoming season.
For the very same reason, fan favorite Natus Vincere will not change their roster either. The Ukrainians were speculated to partake in the shuffle, as a lot of CIS talent seemed to be available. The squad decided to build on the foundation they’ve set up the past several months.
Ad Finem decided directly after their failed qualification for TI that the greek squad would stay together and have not wavered since.
Just the first wave
Teams still have time until 17th September to add players to their roster. Especially China will be interesting to follow, as no team has officially announced any roster changes or a lack thereof yet, even Wings have only vaguely commented on the matter. Many more roster changes are to be expected, so stay tuned.
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