For those who might have missed the most important news from the past week in the competitive Dota2 scene, here is a short recap.
Spring Major and TI7 first details revealed
Valve has announced the dates for The Spring Major and The International 7 along with changes to the regional qualifiers.
The second and last Major pre-TI7 will run from the 20th to 23rd of April next year, with open qualifiers taking place from 6th to 9th March and regional qualifiers from 10th to 13th March. Starting with the next Major, Valve will break the Americas and Europe qualifiers in two separate sub-regions; North America/South America and Europe/CIS will be getting their own individual qualifiers. While the exact dates for The International 7 are not yet set in stone, Valve's announcement stated that it will again be held in the first part of August. The open qualifiers for the biggest event of the year will take place between June 22nd and June 25th, with regional qualifiers running immediately after, on June 26 through 29.
343 joins Execration as substitute for The Boston Major
Adam '343' Shah Hussein, former Fnatic member of the TI6 roster was co-opted last week by Execration as a substitute for Rafael 'Rappy' Palo. 343 will play at the Boston Major with Execration, however he will not be attending the upcoming ROG Masters with the Filipino team.
Valve decided to allow teams to add one substitute to their already locked rosters for the Boston Major after the qualifiers finish, and Execration is the first to use the new rule to their advantage.
Adam '343' Shah Hussein, former Fnatic member of the TI6 roster was co-opted yesterday by Execration as a substitute for Rafael 'Rappy' Palo. 343 will play at the Boston Major with Execration, however he will not be attending the upcoming ROG Masters with the Filipino team.
The Boston Major Execration roster:
Khim 'Gabbi' Villafuerte
Abed 'Abed' Yusop
Djardel Jicko 'DJ' Mampusti
Kimuel 'Kim0' Rodis
Adam '343' Shah Hussein
Team Liquid withdraws from Northern Arena BEAT Invitational due to roster changes
After NP was announced as a replacement for Digital Chaos at the Montreal LAN event, Northern Arena BEAT Invitational had to find a solution for Team Liquid as well. The Boston Majors European qualifiers winners, Ad Finem answered the call and will travel to Canada next week to compete for the $100,000 prize pool. Liquid’s decision to withdraw shouldn’t come as a surprise given the serious performance issues the European squad displayed in the past few months. Although the team hasn’t announced anything yet regarding their roster, according to the NA BEAT Invitational organizers, Liquid reasoning for withdrawing are the imminent changes to their team.
Team Faceless: Dota Pit Season 5 tickets in the bag
Although Team Faceless was not even planned to play in the Dota Pit #5 SEA qualifiers, getting a spot in the bracket only a day before the competition would have started as a replacement for Fnatic, the team once again swept through their adversaries to reach the grand finals from an upper bracket position.
Team Secret announce new roster
Following the Boston Major qualifiers disappointing run, Team Secret announced on the 6th of November the departure of Lee 'Forev' Sang-don from the squad. He is being replaced by the former Escape Gaming’s offlaner, Maurice 'KheZu' Gutmann. KheZu will make his debut with Team Secret on the 10th of November at the at the ROG Masters LAN event from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Team Secret roster :
Zheng 'MidOne' Yeik Nai
Noah 'MP' Pyo
Maurice 'KheZu' Gutmann
Clement 'Puppey' Ivanov
Johan 'pieliedie' Åström
JK steps down from the compLexity line-up
After two months being a part of the coL DotA 2 line-up, Justin “jk” Rosselle is leaving the team, just weeks before The Boston Major kicks off. This puts coL in a tough spot as they are set to take part in the Northern Arena BEAT Invitational this coming weekend, however they will be attempting to bring in their substitute before the event but there could be issues with this occurring on such short notice. With regards to their place in the Major and the Invitational, coL have stated the following:
