Cover-Credits:
In a major revamp of its Dota 2 roster, Alliance has now announced the departure of captain and position three player, Gustav "s4" Magnusson. Alliance stated on a blog on its website that despite being in an unconventional position as a captain, s4 had helped the team through the two regional leagues in the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) 2021, making it hard to bid such a player farewell. This roster change comes three days after Alliance announced the departure of midlaner, Linus "Limmp" Blomdin and position five player, Artsiom "fng" Barshak. The organization has not announced the replacement of these three players so far.
Alliance and s4 part ways
“Today Alliance announces an additional departure in their Dota 2 division. Join in and wish farewell to Gustav “S4” Magnusson,” the organization said. Alliance also thanked s4 for his major role in the qualification to The International 10 (TI10) in addition to the two regional leagues.
Alliance's updated Dota 2 roster following S4's departure is as follows:
Nikolay "Nikobaby" Nikolov
TBD
TBD
Simon "Handsken" Haag
TBD
Alliance’s co-owner and CEO, Jonathan "Loda" Berg, who was s4’s teammate at TI3 when Alliance lifted the Aegis of Champions, said on this roster change:
“It’s always sad to say goodbye to a friend. Especially a friend as special and important to Alliance’s history as the son of Magnus himself, S4. We all wanted more from this TI but that doesn’t mean we didn’t give it our all this year. Because we did. Everyone that reaches this prestigious event does.”
S4 exits Alliance after 18 months of service. Additionally, this was s4's third appearance as an Alliance player in his decade long Dota 2 career.
At the DPC 2021, s4 and his teammates were strong competitors in the regional leagues, outperforming many of their European counterparts such as OG, Team Nigma, and Team Liquid. Thus, the team finished second in the first regional league and first in the second regional league. Performances at the two LAN Majors that followed were, however, disappointing.
At TI10, Alliance once again failed to come across as the strong team it seemed to be during the online DPC events. Despite their fight, Alliance finished 9th-12th at TI10.
After the departure of s4, Limmp, and fng from Alliance's Dota 2 squad, the team appears to be looking to drastically restructure its roster. The team would now ideally also need a new leader with the exit of s4.
The next Dota 2 competitive season (DPC 2021-22) is expected to begin on 29th Nov 2021.
