Get Dunked: The Great Roster Re-Shuffle

Alliance - The return of s4 gives Alliance fans great hope; the memories of TI3 and the s4/AdmiralBulldog bromance came flooding back. It's hard not to get excited when a player of s4's caliber joins the team you support, but Alliance have had a rough couple of years and it would take more than his return to fix that. Hopefully, with the addition of Mynuts as well, Alliance can find the stability they need to push on and start to dictate the meta again; something that made them so formidable at their peak. It all feels a little too familiar though, like we've been here before; the last time an old Alliance player returned to the team it was a disaster.

Mnky Bzns - BDN0Tail returns to the mid-role that made him famous in HoN. Old Fnatic/C9 fans may be weary of such a drastic position switch, but N0Tail is often lauded as the best ever to play the role. It'll be interesting to see how quickly he re-learns the position, as Mnky Bzns' success will most likely depend on that factor. The rest of the squad are fantastic, and often underrated, players. They also have one of the most exciting new players in Miracle, so it wouldn't be too surprising to see them challenging at the top.

Monkey FF - We want to believe. How are you so good Ar1se?

Secret - No mercy. It could go either way. EternalEnvy is easily the most gifted carry on the European scene, and only really second to Arteezy in the west (special shoutout to Silent and Illidan). While he can win his team games almost single-handedly, he also has a tendency to throw games away in moments of madness. Secret's success will depend on Puppey and Pieliedie effectively calling the shots to cover EE's mental lapses and w33haa's inexperience. Misery will be, like always, solid and effective. Secret look good, but undoubtedly weaker than the team that challenged TI5.


5JuNGz - Likely to dominate the EU scene early then implode. As insanely talented as FATA and Kuroky are, their respective reputations speak volumes against them. We hope they'll be able to hold it together, but their track records indicate otherwise.

Evil Geniuses - Only one change for the current TI champions; the return of Arteezy at the expense of Aui_2000. Fear moves to support, Arteezy to carry. Zai also returns as a substitute.

It seems like a huge risk to tinker with a team that just convincingly won $6,600,000 and there are only a handful of players worth that risk; Arteezy is at the top of that list. With the addition of Artour, EG now have four of the best players, in their respective positions, in the world; they also have one of the most experienced and versatile players to have ever played the game in Fear, and easily the most skilled substitute in Zai. It is no exaggeration to say that they will win everything if they can avoid the internal strife that tore them apart the last time Artour was on the team.

Digital Chaos - Aui_2000's new team, the only challengers to the NA dominance of EG. They won't reach the heights of Aui's old team, but should be a solid contender and easily the second best NA team. They're basically a poor man's EG, and only time will tell if they can compete at the top or become just another pale imitation of a top team that the NA region seems to produce. All Aui's previous teams have been contenders, so hopefully they can buck the trend .

Cloud 9 - A lot of people will be ditching their C9 pennants. Brax and MSS have a strange habit of popping up on teams that go on to have a short run of success then imploding so anything could happen. Could be an interesting wildcard team as there's a lot of individual skill within the team. It all depends on if 1437 can hold them together and if C9 as an organization are willing to support the roster through the inevitable rough patches.

CIS 

Empire - Empire fucked up. Their first choice position 5, The-apathy, is already registered with another team. Rules are rules, so Empire are left with the choice of playing open qualifiers with The-apathy or playing with currently registered, but actually a sub, Fervian. Ubah is a solid replacement in the offlane, but yoky had a fantastic year and will be missed. Interesting to see how this iteration of Empire fair, but another seemingly disappointing re-shuffle that will probably mean Empire go on to dominate for most of the year then stumble at TI. Silent, Resolut1ion and ALOHADANCE are still the best in the region, but a lack of a clear captain/drafter is still worrying. Still, there's no other team that consistently have all five players perfectly in sync like Empire. 

HellRaisers - Dread go stream zaebal.

Na'vi - Only time will tell how PSM fairs as captain. Na'vi have become impossible to predict. ArtStyle as sub makes sense as an instant replacement if PSM doesn't work out.

Virtus.Pro - The strongest CIS team stay unchanged. Innovative and exceptional leadership and drafting from fng.

CDEC - The TI runners up stay unchanged. All individually exceptional players.

LGD - The addition of rOtk is an exciting one, but no team can recover from the loss of a player like xiao8, possibly the greatest in-game leader the game will ever know. If he plays an active substitute role, LGD can continue to compete at the top.

Vici Gaming - Hopefully their carry woes are at an end with the addition of the great BurNing. If he gels with the team quickly, VG could run riot over the Chinese scene. Retaining the best support duo of the east in Fenrir and fy is huge for them.

SEA 

Fnatic - The addition of Black^ after Fnatic's extensive overhaul is the most notable. Incredible individual ability, but he brings with him constant questions over his one dimensional play-style and possible communication issues. Hopefully, with Mushi's incredible versatility, there won't be problems, but Black^ and Mushi's joint history of teams constantly disbanding and re-building doesn't look good for Fnatic.

NEW PATCH PLEASE

— Artour (@Arteezy) August 30, 2015