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Dota 2 Weekly Recap | New teams, Minors, Majors & more

Dota 2

The weeks following TI are always full of surprises. This year they are definitely coming left and right. There are roster changes, new tournaments and more, with new information dropping every single day. Let’s take a look at the most notable events that took place this week.

Monday

Evil Geniuses roster changes

Evil Geniuses, the best NA Dota 2 team for some time, has decided to part ways with their prodigy/wonderkid mid laner – Sumail “Sumail” Hassan after over four years. The reason behind this decision was not revealed, but it seems that both parties needed something new. In addition to Sumail, Gustav “s4” Magnusson also left the squad. The ex-Alliance mid player did not have the best season this year, which is likely the reason for his removal.

In order to fill in the gap, EG announced the addition of Abed “Abed” Azel L. Yusop and Roman “RAMZES666” Kushnarev. Both of them are excellent players so it will be very interesting to see how well they stack. However, Roman will not play his usual carry position as it’s currently occupied by Artour “Arteezy” Babaev. Instead, he will take the space left by s4, the offlane. Needless to say, the SEA superstar Abed will roll out his Meepo in mid.

Tuesday

New DPC season & rules

Valve has finally announced the new dates and rules for the upcoming 2019-2020 Dota Pro Circuit. However, it turns out that they ‘forgot’ about the upcoming Midas Mode 2.0, as the first date for the qualifiers was planned for exactly the same time as the tournament. This resulted in a massive backlash from the Reddit community. Seeing the reactions, Valve decided to step in, moving the qualifiers back a week.

There are plenty of changes in the new DPC, so be sure to read the full announcement. That said, if we have to highlight one, it has to be the combined qualifiers for the Minors & Majors. Needless to say, this is a very welcome change, especially to those who constantly run into Visa issues.

Wednesday

Kuku joined GeekFam

There are not many players as controversial as Carlo “Kuku” Palad out there. After he ‘faked’ his team-kick from TNC, the SEA organization decided to remove him after all. However, a player of his caliber had no trouble finding new ground to shine. Kuku’s new home is called GeekFam and he will be backed up by Dubu and Raven, two prestigious SEA pros.

Nikobaby & Fata formed a team

One of the stars of this years’ TI was undoubtedly Nikolay “Nikobaby” Nikolov. The Bulgarian superstar played for Mineski, and despite the fact they left the event fairly early, he made a great impression with his incredible game sense and farming skill.

However, just days after TI ended Mineski was shattered as every team member decided to try their luck elsewhere. Just a couple of days later, Adrian “Fata” Trinks announced on his Twitter that he had formed a new team with Nikobaby, Simon “Handsken” Haag, Neta “33” Shapir, and Linus “Limmp” Blomdin.

We don’t have any info yet about their team name or the region they will play in. However, it is very likely to be EU as nearly all of the players are European.

Thursday

BTS will be the first Minor of the 2019-2020 DPC

The Summit has always been one of the most loved tournaments by players and fans alike. The first Minor of the new DPC season will start on the 7th of November in Los Angeles, California. As always, teams will fight for a USD $300,000 prize pool, as well as a couple of DPC points.

Friday

MDL Chengdu will be the first Major of the 2019-2020 DPC

Strangely enough, the first Major will be held in China, not NA. Many thought that it would be hosted in the same location as the Minor, but that’s not the case this time. The MDL Chengdu Major will have an incredible $1,000,000 prize pool, as well as 15 000 DPC points. As you can guess, we will see sixteen of the best teams in the world giving it all.

https://www.facebook.com/notes/mars-media/mdl-return-to-china-with-the-chengdu-major/1076321662562903/

ppd and Universe together in Ninjas in Pyjamas

The last DPC season was very strange for Peter “ppd” Dager and his teammates. They started slow, but soon things started to change for the better for the new team. During the last couple of tournaments, they’ve played exceptionally well – which is why many pegged them as hidden favorites for TI 9. Unfortunately, the reality was very different, as the team were eliminated directly in the Group Stage after finishing dead last.

That’s why just a couple of weeks later, NiP now has an entirely new roster. PPD decided to add Oliver “Skiter” Lepko, Nico “Gunnar” Lopez, Saahil “Universe” Arora and Malthe “Biver” Winther, which means that the team is now re-built from the ground up.

Saturday

Vici Gaming is ready

The Chinese Dota 2 scene has a couple of very strong teams, and Vici is definitely one of them. They dominated the vast majority of the last DPC season and had an amazing run at TI 9. However, after all the drama with Pan “Fade” Yi, who left Vici to join Team Aster, the Chinese powerhouse had to find a replacement.

Luckily, it took them just a couple of days to do so. Xiong “Pyw” Jiahan, the ex-Team Serenity captain, will be filling in the gap left by Fade. Expect to see the new roster in action during Midas Mode 2.0.

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