Get Dunked: The Kings of the North

No group of players ever accomplished so much together.

"Here we go, could be a huge clash in the river. Akke... Blink, Malefice as well. He will get caught, he has buyback, it's a Crystal Maiden down but the push comes top. It's a nice pick for Na'vi. It's not enough to put this game in their grasp... They can't Rosh, they don't have enough damage...But s4! Cancel TP! Puppey's not going to be back in the base... He's got BKB but no Boots of Travel... Ohhhhh! COIL ON TWO! CANCELS DENDI'S TP AS WELL! Now onto Funn1k, Funn1k's caught! Now they go for the throne! It could be game... Funn1k's down. ALLIANCE. ARE. DOING IT! THEY NEED A LITTLE MORE, XBOCT TO FALL, THRONE IN JEOPARDY! It's a Glyph, it could be their last stand... Dendi's back, he's going to try and focus everybody but there's so much stuff... The Glyph's done. There's no more Glyph available... Down to about half HP, a quarter HP, Alliance surrounding from all sides... BKB, THEY WANT THIS THRONE, THEY'RE GONNA DO IT, THE KINGS OF THE NORTH... ALLIANCE WINS, THEY WIN, ALLIANCE WIN TI3!"

The unthinkable has finally happened. Loda and Akke are no longer playing together, s4 and AdmiralBulldog have gone their separate ways, and EGM wasn't kicked...

In modern Dota, teams disband all the time, so what makes the Alliance disband so different? There are many reasons, but the one that stands out is that they were, arguably, the greatest team the game has known. In order to clarify that statement, however, we must define our terms.

So what makes a team great? Many things. The most obvious of which is tournament success; it is an easily measurable statistic. According to joinDota, Alliance placed 1st in twenty eight tournaments and qualifiers, placing 2nd in nine others. Upon finalizing their roster, they won every tournament they participated in bar two, winning eight in a row. Most notably, they won the G-1 Champions League Season 5 without losing a game, Starladder i-league and WCA 2015 upon reforming, and of course, without dropping a series, the greatest tournament in the history of Dota 2: TI3.


The former members of Alliance were all incredible skilled players, but what made them so formidable was that the team was far greater than the sum of its parts. Although they may be remembered as "Rats" with a singular play-style, this couldn't be further than the truth.

"Alliance didn’t just have a strategic advantage at TI3; they were a quantum leap ahead of every other team. They outfoxed their opponents so fully that most fans came to believe in the illusion that western strategy was ahead of the east as a whole. But this was a lie, there was no western advantage in strategy; the east still created most of the dominant concepts for TI3 and held a general tactical advantage over every team save Alliance and Na`Vi’s own hybrid ideas. Unfortunately for them, Alliance was just that much more brilliant than everyone else."

"The Alliance difference came from how they used specific drafts and farming patterns to enable their split push engine to safely come online every game. By choosing lineups that always peaked slightly later than their opponents, they retained freedom of action and forced the other team to stay on the clock."

The previous quotes come from the excellent Strategy Over Skill: Alliance Ascendant. A highly recommended read that examines the Alliance strategy in depth.

Alliance were a truly innovative team, doing things that no other teams would dare try. Multiple Level 1 Roshans come to mind, as does the famous Nature's Prophet bait. They wouldn't just try an incredibly risky play but, more often than not, would pull it off with style. Alliance games felt like the most thrilling too, from the TI3 Grand Finals up to the TI5 Group Stage match against EG. They weren't just the most successful team, but also the most entertaining. Many think of Alliance winning games almost unfairly by split push because of they way TI3 ended, but I remember Alliance winning with confidence and style. I remember Akke pushing Sylar to the cliff at Roshan, Ursa Lvl 1 verses Roshan, and everyone remembers the "Million Dollar Dream Coil".

The early days as No Tidehunter.

To fans, Alliance felt like a family. From the various members popping up on AdmiralBulldog's stream, the Instagram pictures of them all eating together, and the footage of them just hanging out. There was something different about Alliance, cemented by their reformation for TI6. s4 returned after an incredibly successful year with Team Secret, even though Secret were a far better team at the time. He could have joined any top tier team he wanted, but he went back to Alliance even if a large part of the community (and EternaLEnVy) felt it was a mistake. Although not reaching the same level of success as s4, EGM was by far the best player on the rapidly improving 4C&L. Once s4 rejoined however, there was only one name on fans' lips once there was a support slot free on the roster.


Alliance were immensely successful, winning everything there was to win at their peak and then another two premier tournaments when they reformed. They were more entertaining than any other team, apart from possibly Speed Gaming/C9, both during tournament play and streaming. They were the most innovative and consistent; not since the 6.89 patch has a team been directly nerfed like Alliance. And, finally, there was a magic to them, something different in an age of disbanding, team fall-outs, and drama; they reformed for one last ride, and what a ride it was. Fans who have followed Dota 2 from the TI1/TI2 era will remember what Alliance accomplished, from No Tidehunter a couple of washed up veterans, a pubstar, and two guys no one had really heard of, to the greatest team of all time. Well, that's what I think anyway, even if you disagree, they will be remembered in Dota history.

To Loda, Akke, s4, EGM and AdmiralBulldog I say this:

Long live Alliance.