The post-TI 9 shuffle is still going strong, even though it’s been three weeks since the tournament ended. In fact, there are still many top players who do not have a team locked down. This means only one thing – we’ll have plenty of, hot, fresh DOTA news coming your way.
With that said, let’s take a look at the most important events that happened this week:
The Dota 2 Pro Circuit 2019-2020 format and rules
The biggest news of the week was the introduction of the new DPC seasons’ format and rules. There are plenty of significant changes, especially to the qualifiers. From now on, there will only be one qualifier for the Majors and Minors. This is definitely good news for the players, as they’ll now have more time to prepare for the upcoming series. Also, let’s not forget the host of logistical issues such as visas, hotels and more.
Another notable change is related to substitutes. Now, any team with a substitute at a Major or Minor will suffer a 40% penalty reduction on DPC points acquired from the tournament. This is a highly controversial decision, but until players raise their voices, it’s here to stay. Needless to say, there are a ton of other changes, which you can read on the official Dota page.
Kuku and Eyyou swapped for Kpii and March
The saga with Carlo “Kuku” Palad finally came to an end this week. Kuku announced that he was looking for a new team two weeks ago, but shortly after it turned out that he was only joking around.
Unfortunately, TNC didn’t see the funny side. Just a week after, the SEA team announced their official goodbye (for real this time) with Kuku and Nico “eyyou“ Barcelon. We don’t know the exact reason behind this decision, but it’s very likely to be due to internal issues. After all, TNC Predator had a fantastic run at TI 9, proving themselves to be the best team in their region.
Literally hours after the events above, the organization announced their two new “acquisitions” – Damien “kpii” Chok & Park ‘March’ Tae-won. Despite the fact that both players are excellent in their own right, replacing Kuku is going to be a hard task. After all, he was one of the prodigies for SEA – even through all the controversies constantly circling around him.
Team Liquid parts ways with their Dota 2 roster
This has to be the biggest surprise after TI 9 ended.
Team Liquid is one of the leading esports organizations. In fact, they are performing incredibly well in pretty much every game they have a team for. Their next challenge, however, will be one of recruitment, as their current team recently announced their decision to leave the organisation.
According to the official announcement, Kuro “KuroKy” Salehi Takhasomi and his team-mates are planning on creating their very own esports organization. This is a very ambitious project which requires preparation, contacts and of course, money. That said, if any pro player that can do it, it has to be KuroKy. So far there’s no information about the name of the new org, or much else for that matter.
With regards to Team Liquid, their CEO has said that they have no intention of leaving the Dota 2 space anytime soon.
We’ll be keeping an eye on KoroKy’s new org, TL’s roster building and all the other shuffles still to come. If you’ve missed the moves since TI so far, check out our recaps of all the changes in Week 1 & Week 2.
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