Manila Major and TI6 rosters breakdown: 448 registered players, transfers, brand-new teams

The Manila Major and TI6 rosters have been locked. Four hundred and fifty players have registered, out of which 389 are primary players, 59 are substitutes, and two players have been deemed ineligible, due to previous involvement in match-fixing. With the dust settled and the shuffles over, a clear picture of the professional Dota 2 scene has taken form. New teams have surfaced, some teams completely disbanded and reformed, several teams have undergone big roster changes, while a select few have remained the same in preparation for the spring-summer season.

UPDATE (August 13th):

TI6 final standings, updates and highlights – HERE

Teams hoping to receive invites to the Valve-sponsored events have registered their Manila Major and TI6 rosters. The lineups will remain locked until after The International 6.

Many teams have been affected by changes that swept across the regions. With this roster lock remaining in place until after TI6 – the longest and most important one so far, teams will be hedging their hopes on stability and lasting results with their sights set on Manila and Seattle.

Manila Major and TI6 rosters: Changes to existing teams

Team Secret

News of the Team Secret’s Manila Major and TI6 roster has once again shaken the Dota 2 scene. Omar “w33” Aliwi and Rasmus “MiSeRy” Filipsen were replaced by Artour “Arteezy” Babaev and Saahil “UNiVeRsE” Arora, both from Evil Geniuses, with only four days left before the rosters became locked for more than five months.

In addition, Secret welcomed Theeban “1437” Siva to the team as coach.

Evil Geniuses

Evil Geniuses officially welcomed back both Kurtis “Aui_2000” Ling and Sam “BuLba” Sosale to the organization.

After the unanticipated departure of both Artour “Arteezy” Babaev and Saahil “UNiVeRsE” Arora to Team Secret towards the last days of the Manila Major and TI6 rosters registration period, the future of Evil Geniuses seemed uncertain.

The TI5 champions weathered the storm of the reshuffle to welcome back two familiar faces. Aui had previously been a member when the team seized the Aegis of Champions, while BuLba – who played for the organization during The International 2 – coached the TI5 winning squad to success.

Digital Chaos

Digital Chaos was dissolved by default after they lost Theeban “1437” Siva to Team Secret as a coach and then Evil Geniuses officially welcomed back both Kurtis “Aui_2000” Ling and Sam “BuLba” Sosale to the organization.

Digital Chaos picked up a squad consisting of Omar “w33” Aliwi, Rasmus “MiSeRy” Filipsen, Roman “Resolut1on” Fominok, David “Moo” Hull and Martin “Saksa” Sazdov. The team is expected to attend bootcamp in the United States and compete for the NA region.

CDEC Gaming

The team has undergone drastic changes in their lineup, adding veteran star players – Zhang “Rabbit” Wang, Yao “Yao” ZhengZheng and Xie “Super” Jun Hao to the mix.

The support-duo, Liu “Garder” Xinzhou and Fu “Q” Bin will remain on the team’s Manila Major and TI6 roster.

Sun “Agressif” Zheng has been confirmed to join LGD Gaming, while Chen “Xz” Zezhi will be joining Newbee. Huang “Shiki” Jiwei went to CDEC.Youth.

EHOME

EHOME’s coach Tang “71” Wenyi announced on his Weibo page (Chinese social media network) that Daryl “iceiceice” Koh Pei Xiang and Lu “Fenrir” Chao, two former Vici Gaming players, joined the EHOME roster.

The new additions replaced Chen “Cty” Tianyu and Hu “kaka” Liangzhi.

In addition, 71 has revealed that Zhang “LaNm” Zhicheng switched to the carry position and iceiceice will play support alongside Fenrir.

LGD Gaming

Amidst all of the changes, the very public dispute between Liu “Sylar” Jiajun and LGD resulted in the Chinese player being released from the team.

Additional changes saw Zhang “xiao8” Ning return from his short-lived retirement and assume the offlane position.

One of the fiercest and most famed players from CDEC, Sun “Agressif” Zheng, has joined the mix.

In addition, the roster has been completed with a player from one of the academy teams – CDEC.Avenger’s Xue “September” Zhichuan, rumored to have been scouted out originally by Xio8, will take Liang “DDC” Faming’s support position.

Invictus Gaming and iG.Vitality

Invictus Gaming’s new roster underwent a complete overhaul with Luo “Ferrari_430” Feichi being the only member to remain on the main roster.

Joining him are four of the former iG Vitality players – Zhao “qd” Shungeng, Ye “BoBoKa” Zhibiao, Lin “Xxs” Jing and Chen “Rong” Jingwu.

Former main IG squad members Su “super” Peng and Zhang “Yuno” Chengjun have both transferred to iG Vitality. Joining them is Yang “InJuly” Xiaodong from Team FanTuan in the offlane position, Gao “dogfight” Tianpeng from ViCi Gaming Potential in the support role and a new support player, “Op”.

Newbee

Meng “Xiao2lei” Lei and Zhang “le” Xuanhao moved to Newbee.Young, and Damien “kphoenii” Chok and Hu “Kaka” Liangzhi joined the team. Kaka had last played for EHOME and kphoenii is an Australian player who played for MVP.Phoenix and EHOME.King.

ViCi Gaming

ViCi Gaming looked to Fan “rOtk” Bai and Chen “Cty” Tianyu to revitalize their squad, adding the two star players to the lineup.

As Daryl “iceiceice” Koh Pei Xiang and Lu “Fenrir” Chao both parted ways with the organization to join EHOME, Xie “Super” Junhao went to CDEC.

Xu “Hym” Zhi and Jiang “jdh” Donghao are the fresh blood who joined the team.

ViCi Gaming Reborn

ViCi Gaming Potential was re-branded as Reborn and has also taken on a new roster. Xu “fy” Linsen and Liang “DDC” Faming have been added to the mix.

The team also welcomes newcomer Wang “NoNo” Xin, while Yang “Zyf” Pu will move from the substitute role and Zhou “Yang” Haiyang will retain his position.

The squad will be coached by Tong “mikasa” Junjie.

Cookiss

With the departure of Maurice “KheZu” Gutmann, Cookiss has found a replacement in Adam “Five” Gronberg. The rest of the roster remains unchanged.

Infamous

Jesus “Ztok” Carhuaricra parted ways with the Peruvian team to head North and play for Team Archon. However, due to his involvement in match-fixing, Ztok was deemed ineligible to register for any Manila Major and TI6 rosters and has been banned from participating in any Valve tournaments. Ztok was replaced by Juan “SORA” Ochoa from Union Gaming.

Mineski

Filipino team Mineski welcomed Benhur “Ben” Lawis and Jun “Bok” Kanehara to the mix. The players have replaced Carlo “Kuku” Palad and Ryo “ryOyr” Hasegawa. ryOyr has returned to compete with RAVE once again.

Rave Dota

Jio “Jeyo” Madayag parted ways with Team Archon to return to SEA alongside ex-teammates Michael “Ninjaboogie” Ross and Ryo “Ryoyr” Hasegawa.

Team Empire

Team Empire’s new roster is a complete overhaul with five new players. Only hours after being dissolved in the aftermath of the spring major reshuffle, the squad was rebuilt. The new roster includes Roman “Ramzes” Kushnarev, Roman “Scandal” Sadotenkov, Vasily “AfterLife” Shishkin, Yaroslav “Miposhka” Naidenov and Rinat “KingR” Abdullin.

On March 2nd, the Russian team parted ways with Alexander “XBOCT” Dashkevich. To fill the position left open by XBOCT, the organization added Andrey “Ghostik” Kadyk – most recently of T.RoX. Then,
Gleb “Funn1k” Lipatnikov parted ways with Team Empire to join Team Spirit, leaving the once CIS giants down to two.

Alexander ”NoFear” Churochkin left the team for Virtus.Pro, quickly followed by Ilya “ALOHADANCE” Korobkin hours later, as the last member to join Virtus.Pro and last to leave Empire.

Virtus.Pro

Virtus.Pro announced the addition of both Alexander ”NoFear” Churochkin and Maxim “yoky” Kim to the roster, replacing Alexander “DkPhobos” Kucheria and Ilya “Lil” Ilyuk. At the same time, the team announced Airat “Silent” Gaziev had been moved to the substitute role and will remain inactive due to alleged health issues.

Shortly afterwards, Virtus.Pro took on Ilya “ALOHADANCE” Korobkin to fill the final spot on the team.

Team Spirit

Gleb “Funn1k” Lipatnikov joined Ilya “Illidan” Pivcaev in Team Spirit, rounding out their new roster. Illidan was originally announced to be trying out for the team on March 9th.

The two veteran players replaced Roman “Ramzes” Kushnarev and Vasily “AfterLife” Shishkin – both removed immediately following their performance at The Shanghai Major.

Vega Squadron

Vega Squadron revealed that Pavel “9Pasha” Hvastunov was replaced by Rostislav “fn” Lozovoi in the carry position. This is the first roster change for the CIS squad since before TI5.

Kaipi

Kaipi is stacked with their new roster. Armand “bOne7” Pittner, Antonio “canceL^^” Mihai and Alexandru “ComeWithMe” Crăciunescu welcome WehSing “SingSing” Yuen and Sébastien “7ckingMad” Debs to the team for the new season.

Fantastic Five

Fantastic Five have parted ways with the RoxKis roster, bringing along Alexander “XBOCT” Dashkevich, Andrey “Ghostik” Kadyk and Roman “rmN-“ Paley.

Prior to that, Ghostik, Vadim “Sedoy” Musorin and Arsenij “ArsZeeqq” Usov left in the last month and the team had multiple stand-ins and trial players.

Manila Major and TI6 rosters: Newly created teams

Rebels!

Ivan “VANSKOR” Skorokhod was originally announced to be part of Black^’s Avengers! Dota team. One day after the official announcement, it was revealed that he was kicked from the team, only two days before the Manila Major and TI6 rosters became locked. Black^’s team – Avengers! Dota – has failed to register for the Major.

VANSKOR, however, was able to form another team on really short notice. Joining the support/captain will be Daniil “MeTTpuM” Gilev, Maksim “Shachlo” Abramovshkikh, Oleg “tmw” Kolesnichenko, and Vadim “Sedoy” Musorin.

EverNovaS

EverNova was originally formed in December 2015 for the Shanghai Major. The North American team competed in various minor online tournaments and qualifiers. Their biggest achievement was a second place in the ProDota Cup Americas 3.

EverNovaS will be sponsored by the same organization and includes well known, veteran players – Brian “FLUFFNSTUFF” Lee , Jimmy “DeMoN” Ho, Yawar “YawaR” Hassan, Peter “Waytosexy” Nguyen and Trent “sLiCKz” Tucker.

No Diggity

After Elias “Sealkid” Merta parted ways with Steak Gaming at the end of January, the team had maintained a low key status. Eventually, Ioannis “Fogged” Loucas left the team and is now registered as a sub for Vegetables Esports, while Trent “sLicKz” Tucker has joined EverNovaS.

Troels “syndereN’ Nielsen and Adrian “Era” Kryeziu continued to play together and formed a new team with Yazied “YapzOr” Jaradat and Max “qojqva” Broecker.

No Diggity made their debut performance in the EPICENTER Moscow EU qualifiers, with Ludwig “zai” Wåhlberg who was unable to return to competitive gaming, due to school commitments. Instead, the team picked up Maurice “KheZu” Gutmann.

Polarity

In a string of various announcements regarding Virtus.Pro, it was revealed that the organization was forming a second squad. The lineup contains both recently departed Virtus.Pro members Alexander “DkPhobos” Kucheria and Ilya “Lil” Ilyuk.

DkPhobos and Lil will be joined by carry player Paul “9pashaebashu” Khvastunov and Andrew “Afoninje” Afonin. Rounding out the roster is Eugene “Jenya” Kuznetsov. He is an up and coming pub player that is well known within the community.

Team Defiance

Team Defiance is a mix compromised of Khaled “sQreen” El-Khabbash, Uros “Swiftending” Galic, Selim “Neqroman” Oynar, Milan “MiLAN” Kozomara and Kalle “Trixi” Saarinen.

All of these players are veterans, having been competing in the European scene for some time.

Animal Kingdom

Animal Kingdom is a new North American team that is comprised primarily of Team Leviathan members – Andrew “Jenkins” Jenkins, Jason “Newsham” Newsham, Matthew “jaH” Penaroza, plus Eric “747” Dong and Luis “Zyzz” Perez. Zyzz played briefly for the team for approximately one month, in December.

Team Leviathan disbanded earlier in March, despite being a constant fixture in the scene since 2014, with a strong presence in regional tournaments and qualifiers. Members of the team were reported to be free agents, looking for new teams.

White Fries Gaming

White Fries Gaming brings together Gong “ZSMJ” Jian and Benedict Lim “hyhy” Han Yong in a new team. The two acclaimed veteran players will be joined by Fan “ayo” Tianyou, Pan “yCyKzXy/ychen” Shuaifang and Li “chisbug” Chen.

Hyhy gained much Western attention while playing at The International 1 in 2011 with Scythe Gaming. He was one of the three key focal points/players for Free to Play, the documentary about TI1, where he took third place with Scythe Gaming.

ZSMJ has an extensive history playing with top Chinese teams such as ViCi Gaming, TongFu and Newbee.

Wonder Wolfs

Wonder Wolfs pulls together Dat “Biryu” Quoc Ha, Bill Oliver “boris” Boris, Bryant “whitebeard” Lehwald, Justin “justin” Rosselle and Ravidnu “Ritsu” Kodipplili.

Manila Major and TI6 rosters: Teams that kept their rosters intact

Worth noting are the following teams that have not made any changes to their lineups. These rosters will have the most stability going into the new season and deserve acknowledgement for their attempt to forge lasting team cohesion.

• Alliance
• compLexity Gaming
• Danish Bears
• Fnatic
• Team Liquid
• MVP.Phoenix
• London Conspiracy
• OG
• ProDota Gaming
• Na’Vi
• Ad Finem
• Vegetables Esports