The Shanghai Major rosters have been locked. With the dust settled and the shuffles over, a clear picture of the professional Dota 2 scene has taken form. Several teams have undergone big roster changes in preparation for the winter season.
The second wave of scheduled roster changes has finally been completed.
The Shanghai Major rosters have been finalized for teams hoping to receive a direct invite or invitation to the regional qualifiers.
Many teams have made either small or significant changes in hopes to find their chemistry for the upcoming winter season.
Shanghai Major rosters: Changes to existing teams
Shanghai Major rosters: ChuaN gets transferred from Invictus Gaming to Newbee
In a very surprising move, Wong “ChuaN” Hock has transferred to Newbee.
Invictus Gaming has almost always been synonymous with ChuaN. While he started his career in 2011, with LGD Gaming, he transferred to Invictus Gaming after the first International. In September of 2013, he departed the organization for a five-month stint away from competitive gaming, before coming back to his “home”, at IG.
Liu “XDD” Silong will take ChuaN’s place on the team. XDD has been playing since 2012 for various Chinese teams including Wings Gaming and Hyper Glory Team.
While neither ChuaN, IG nor Newbee have made any formal announcement with details regarding the changes, the supporting evidence is posted on both Invictus Gaming’s Facebook and the official Shanghai Major rosters registration list.
Shanghai Major rosters: Alliance welcome back EGM
Alliance have recreated the lineup which brought them the Aegis of Champions at The International 3, by bidding welcome to former teammate and long-time friend, Jerry “EGM” Lundkvist, most recently of 4 Clovers & Lepricon.
The announcement came three days after Johan “Mynuts” Andersson had been released from the roster and just in time for the Shanghai Major registration deadline.
Shanghai Major rosters: Virtus.Pro have replaced Illidan with Silent
Virtus.Pro © Brita Jonsson/ ESL
On December 2nd, Virtus.Pro replaced Ilya “Illidan” Pivcaev with Airat “Silent” Gaziev, most recently of Team Empire. The change was made in an attempt to give VP the push they need to take a few more steps forward.
Shanghai Major rosters: Digital Chaos take in 1437
Dat Quoc “Biryu” Ha from Digital Chaos has been released from Digital Chaos’ active roster, due to unthriving in-game chemistry. Biryu has remained with the organization, filling the team’s substitute position and also taking on Jared “pandaego” Fletcher’s responsibilities as a coach.
Days later, Digital Chaos welcomed Theeban “1437” Siva to the North American roster as their fifth player, prompting the dissolution of his departing team – Cloud 9.
Shanghai Major rosters: Ditya Ra, Ax.Mo and Artstyle join Na’Vi
October 2015 saw the end of an era for Na’Vi. With the team almost completely disbanding, it was to be rebuilt again around Danil “Dendi” Ishutin and Akbar “SoNNeikO” Butaev.
Gleb “Funn1k” Lipatnikov and Alexander “XBOCT” Dashkevich’s departure had opened up the way for new players Dmitry “Ditya Ra” Minenkov, Dmitry “Ax.Mo” Morozov, and the return of Ivan “Artstyle” Antonov.
Shanghai Major rosters: Team Empire complete their lineup with XBOCT and Funn1k
Team Empire’s lineup was given new life. Former teammates and Na’Vi players, Gleb “Funn1k” Lipatnikov and Alexander “XBOCT” Dashkevich joined the squad in time to compete in the Game Show Global eSports Cup playoffs in Lithuania and finals in Moscow.
The team managed to seize the championship title, their first in seven months.
Shanghai Major rosters: compLexity Gaming revive most of the HoN StayGreen roster
compLexity Gaming welcomed Swedish brothers Rasmus “Chessie” Blomdin and Linus “Limmp” Blomdin for the new season, reviving most of the HoN StayGreen roster from 2013-2014.
Simon “Handsken” Haag also joined the mix, leaving Luis “ZyzzY” Perez as the sixth player/substitute for the roster.
However, just moments prior to the team departing to compete in the Game Show Global eSports studio LAN playoffs in Lithuania, it was revealed that ZyzzY had parted ways with the team, leaving the squad in a pinch, as he was scheduled to compete instead of Chessie who was incapacitated at the time, due to a minor illness. The team participated with a stand-in.
Shanghai Major rosters: Team Leviathan welcome former coL player, Zyzzy
The last minute departure of Luis “ZyzzY” Perez from compLexity was surprising, but led to the Mexican player being registered officially as a player for North American team Leviathan.
Shanghai Major rosters: Fnatic part ways with Black^
In a recent interview, Chong Xin “Ohaiyo” Khoo confirmed that Fnatic would not undergo roster changes for the Shanghai Major rosters registration.
However, on December 3rd, it was announced that Fnatic and Dominik “Black^” Reitmeier had parted ways, merely days before the Shanghai Major rosters lock.
The coach, Ahmad Syazwan “ADTR” bin Anuar, stepped in to fill Black^’s place.
Shanghai Major rosters: Ztok and Greedy walk away from Unknown
Unknown’s team status had gone into limbo, as both the captain, Jesus “Ztok” Carhuaricra and Alexis “Greedy” Ventura parted ways with the roster. There has been no official registration of the team or announcement of replacements.
The Peruvian team was the first South-American team to ever qualify for an event organized by Valve. Unknown.xiu managed to move forward into the Americas qualifiers from the Open Qualifiers and grab one of the two available spots for the Frankfurt Major.
Shanghai Major rosters: StingeR and vanN leave Elite Wolves
Another Peruvian team was hit by the reshuffles, Elite Wolves. Both Steven “StingeR” Vargas and Juan Carlos “vanN” Tito have departed the team. Iwo “i w o'” Bejar from Not Today has been added to the roster, alongside a player named José “Darki” Mazzi.
Shanghai Major rosters: MVP.Phoenix undergoes changes
After TI5, MVP.Hot6ix and MVP.Phoenix went through some changes. The two teams merged rosters with MVP.Phoenix taking Park “March” Tae-won, Kim “QO” Seon-yeob, Kim “Febby” Yong-min, Pyo “MP” No-a and Lee “Heen” Seung-gon.
With sub-par performances coming out from both teams, an appearance at the Game Show Global eSports Cup Studio LAN in Lithuania saw a new MVP.Phoenix roster, with Heen and March being replaced by “Dubu” Dooyoung and Lee “FoREV” Sang-don.
The Shanghai Major rosters registration confirms MVP.Phoenix’s new lineup, with March having taken on a substitute role.
Shanghai Major rosters: Kaipi welcomes 7ckngmad
Kaipi made their debut during D2CL Season 6. The team had quietly competed in various online tournaments and had been flying under the radar. After some timw, Alexandru “Comewithme” Crăciunescu and Alder “Beesa” Beano parted ways with the team.
Kaipi have now officially registered for the Shanghai Major with Sébastien “7ckingMad” Debs and Romanian player Andrei “Keyano” Grigorie as part of the team.
Shanghai Major rosters: No Logic Gaming take in Masakary and Zeroji
No Logic Gaming had to undergo some significant changes with the departure of both captain Giorgos “SsaSpartan” Giannakopoulos and player Omar “Madara” Dabasas.
Romanian player Cosmin “Masakary” Nechifor and Filip “Zeroji” Erlandsson have been added to the official roster.
>>> NEXT: Newly created teams and unregistered, but confirmed squads
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