Alliance and Nigma Galaxy SEA release rosters ahead of the International 11

The seasonal roster shuffle in Dota 2 kicks off early for many, notably teams without a shot at qualifying for the International 11 (TI11) anymore.

Alliance’s roster disband was probably coming since their debut in DPC 2022, which was still terrible through and through. They certainly aren’t the only team to release their roster ahead of the new DPC 2023 season. At least three more teams from the premiere tiers are likely releasing their rosters this week.

Alliance’s disband

It’s tough to be an Alliance fan, especially after three major roster disbands. The former TI3 champion released its founding roster back in year 2016 after performing poorly for three consecutive Internationals since the team’s prime.

Fast forward to the era of Aydin “iNSaNiA” Sarkohi’s roster, which took two years to cultivate. Alliance managed to return to the International championship, but only to fall out prematurely because of iNSaNiA’s miss-picking Gyrocopter. Nevertheless, this second-generation roster had decent success and synergy, but only to quit as a team to play for Team Liquid instead.

Then comes the third and latest generation of Alliance’s roster, which for what it’s worth, had its moments with Nikolay “Nikobaby” Nikolov at the forefront. However, after several player changes, even Nikobaby loses his charm playing alongside a poorly coordinated team. As DPC 2022 concludes, Alliance ended their Division 1 run at last place, which means they will start in Division 2 next season.

A much-needed revamp

Any keen follower of Alliance’s journey throughout the year 2022 could have wholeheartedly agreed that this line-up is doomed. Alliance had one too many player changes, just to accommodate their proclaimed prodigy, Nikobaby. However, despite the many iterations and even bringing the two-time TI finalist, Aliwi “w33” Omar into the team. Alliance still inevitably failed. Regardless, it would be interesting to see what Alliance’s next generation of players will look like.

Nigma Galaxy SEA in deep water

Over at the Southeast Asia region, Nigma Galaxy’s sister team, or SEA division has also been underwhelming. They were back-and-forth in Division 1 and 2 but ultimately weren’t up to par against the stronger opponents in SEA.

BOOM Esports and Fnatic have already been staples in Division 1 in SEA, but T1 and Talon Esports also joined the fray recently. Hence, the SEA region has no shortage of promising candidates, to say the least, which makes Nigma Galaxy’s decision to disband their sister squad reasonable.

Trouble in the roots

The parent team has issues to cope with also. Kuro “KuroKy” Takhasomi’s Nigma Galaxy has performed poorly throughout the DPC 2022 season, and oftentimes get demoted to Division 2. Unlike many failing rosters, Nigma stayed true to their founding members by keeping all four TI7 Champions. Nigma’s predecessor, Igor “iLTW” Filatov recently spoke out that he hated playing Dota when he was in Nigma. After all the hate from the community on their performance, it’s difficult to not have your morale crushed.

Other teams to follow suit

Team MagMa from the China region also dropped their roster. The Chinese newcomer had decent success and was a staple in Division 1 during the early debut of their squad. Unfortunately, MagMa fell off over the DPC 2022 season, which eventually led to their disband.

Team Unique, which hails from the Eastern European region, recently let their roster go after a hiatus from DPC. They attempted the TI11 regional qualifier only to lose in their first round.

Lastly, the Last Chance Qualifier participants could be potential candidates to release their rosters after their loss in the coming days. T1, Wildcard Gaming, nouns, and Tempest haven’t been in their best form after the first day, so it would be a shame to see them announce their roster shuffle soon.