With Dota2 wrapping up for the year, I thought it was a good time to look back and see what were the best roster moves done in the 2017-2018 DPC. Making roster changes can be an incredibly complicated process, as even the best rosters on paper may not work. It is also a chance to point out how the entire history of Dota2 can change off of one roster change.

Neta “33” Shapira to OpTic

One of the best surprises of the year was when 33 joined OpTic. The move came after Rasmus “MISERY” Filipsen decided to leave the squad to join EG as their new leader. While the move didn’t work out for EG, it did pay off dividends for 33 and OpTic. 33 initially came into the squad to play the four role, but at ESL One Katowice, they experimented with 33 playing the offlane role. From there, they found out he could be the superstar of the team if they enabled him correctly.

This roster change made OpTic a more complete team. 33 became the primary win condition and shifted Ludwig “zai” Wahlberg to the 4 role. This made their support core far stronger and made OpTic a dangerous threat going towards the end of the DPC circuit. They went from being a consistent qualifier team that was knocked out in the early stages of tournaments to winning the minor at StarLadder ImbaTV Season 5, getting second at ESL One Birmingham, and top 6 at Summit 9.

OG add Anathan “ana” Pham and Topias “Topson” Taavitsainen

When Tal “Fly” Aizik and Gustav “s4” Magnusson left for EG, OG was left scrambling. They had little to no time to find players and make something work. In the end they brought back ana who had been trying to play in a few mixed teams to get back in the mix. They also brought on a complete rookie in Topson.

Like the Optic change, this was one that was forced on them. It also forced a multitude of changes within the team itself. Johan “N0tail” Sundstein became the five player and in-game leader. Sebastien “7ckngMad” Debs moved to the offlane role. Ana moved from the mid lane to the carry. The team then made a legendary run as they won TI8 in the most dramatic fashion possible.

On top of that, this particular lineup didn’t last very long as ana decided to stop playing after The International 8. While it was still just a single tournament, what a tournament it was. Everything came together in a manner that I’ve never seen before in Dota2 history. Sadly, this was a lineup we only got to see once in our lifetime on a big stage as it seems unlikely that Ana will be back. At least we’ll always have TI8.

EG add Fly and s4

This is probably one of the single best moves on paper. EG had always had all of the individual skill in the world with players like Artour “Arteezy” babaev, Sumail “SumaiL” Hassan, Saahil “UNiVeRsE” Arora and Andreas “Cr1t-” Nielsen. However once Cr1t- gave up the leadership role, they lacked someone who could make all of that talent work together. At the same time, they needed a dedicated five player.

They did a few roster changes throughout 2018 that didn’t pan out for them and eventually were left needing an offlaner and a five player. Fly and s4 were the perfect fit. Fly is one of the most decorated captains in Dota2 history and someone who can bring a team together. S4 is a brilliant offlaner who plays a low economy style that was perfect for enabling two greedier cores in Arteezy and Sumail. Before Fly and s4 came onto the team, this was a superstar roster that was getting regularly knocked out of groups or early in the knockout stages. Once they joined, they catapulted the team from struggling to stay in the top 8 into one of the best teams in the world. They won Summit 9, got third at TI8 and got third at the Kuala Lumpur Major in the new DPC Season as well.

Virtus.Pro add Vladimir “RodjER” Nikogosyan

Virtus.Pro were one of the best teams going into TI7. After losing in the 5-6th place, they continued being one of the most consistent teams in the world. For the remaining period of 2017, they were a top three team and won ESL One Hamburg. Going into 2018, they also won ESL One Katowice.

Despite those accomplishments, Virtus.Pro were never able to take the title as the best team in the world. During that period, it was a three team race between them, Liquid, and Secret. So Virtus.Pro decided that they needed to make a change that would take them from among the top teams to the de-facto best.

That is when RodjER came into the team. He had a different hero pool from Ilya “Lil” Ilyuk and instantly fit the team. At the time, he was also the best four player in the region and was one of the best support players for the meta. Once he joined the team, Virtus.Pro rushed past the rest of their contemporaries and were clearly the best team in the world. They won The Bucharest Major, ESL Birmingham, and most recently the Kuala Lumpur Major. Beyond that they’ve gotten a slew of top place finishes across the DPC and were the best overall team throughout the 2017-2018 circuit and are already at the top of the standings in the new DPC as well.

1 PSG.LGD add Yang “Chalice” Shenyi and Yap “xNova” Jian Wei

I think the best change any team made this season was PSG.LGD adding Chalice and xNova. PSG.LGD had plenty of talent within the squad including players like Wang “Ame” Chunyu, Lu “Maybe” Yao, and Xu “fy” Linsen. However they didn’t have the right players, right roles, or right strategy that could enable all of them. That is why outside of a 2nd place at PGL Open Bucharest, the entire 2017 period was lackluster. PSG.LGD had problems trying to get out of the Chinese region, nevermind trying to compete for a top place in the world.

Once Chalice and xNova came into the team, everything started to mesh. Chalice played a low resource offlaner which allowed Ame and Maybe to take up more space in terms of gold and role in the team. This forced fy back into his original role. Finally, xNova’s style of play and warding established the aggressive style that characterized PSG.LGD for the rest of the season.

The combination of these five players also made it so that fy didn’t have to captain full time. In interviews, the entire team use a kind of democratic system with fy or xNova doing most of the things early game and they shift to Ame calling for the later parts of the game. This has always been one of fy’s big weaknesses as he could never call and play to his highest level at the same time. This team allowed him to play at a superstar level without sacrificing anything in team cohesion or direction.

After these two players joined, the team went from losing in qualifiers to getting top placings at LANs. In the biggest LAN tournaments at the end of the season, they got 2nd at ESL Birmingham, Won EPICENTER, Won MDL Changsha, got 3rd at the Chinese SuperMajor, and 2nd at TI8.

*Disclaimer: VPEsports is a Washington State based esports news media company funded by VPGame.

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