Today the Swedish Dota 2 organization Alliance announced that they’re parting ways with two of their players. Adrian “Fata” Trinks and Neta “33” Shapira are no longer part of the team, but there’s still no info about who will be the ones to replace them.
Alliance were once the most beloved Dota 2 team, most notably after their epic victory in The International 2013 grand finals against Natus Vincere. The Swedish squad remained relevant for a few more years after that, but then slowly started to deteriorate when eventually none of the TI-winners remained. In recent years, the organization had trouble getting back up to its past glory as it struggled to make it through even unofficial Dota 2 events. When it came to Valve sponsored Minors and Majors the team found little to no success. All of that changed when Alliance acquired a brand new roster in October 2019:
- Nikolay "Nikobaby" Nikolov
- Linus "Limmp" Blomdin
- Neta "33" Shapira
- Simon "Handsken" Haag
- Adrian "Fata" Trinks
The first achievement came in the same month with a champions title in DreamLeague Season 12 where Alliance defeated Ninjas in Pyjamas in the winner’s finals and Demon Slayers in the grand finals. A week later the team took third place in the ESL One Hamburg. In 2020 they placed fourth in Season 13 of DreamLeague and most recently earned a second place in the StarLadder ImbaTV Dota 2 Minor Season 3, losing only to Team Aster in the grand finals.
Considering the last few years, this was the best shape we’ve seen Alliance in a long time. That’s why it came as a surprise they’re removing their captain Adrian "Fata" Trinks and Neta "33" Shapira.
Roster changes in our #Dota2 division - DPC 2020 mid-season updates. https://t.co/6sZwwwQCdJ#LongLiveAlliance pic.twitter.com/O53MWnX297
— Alliance (@theAllianceGG) March 31, 2020
Alliance founder and CEO Jonathan Berg added:
I’m very thankful for everything Fata and 33 has achieved with our team. When they joined us in September last year, we knew they wanted to prove themselves and we could not have asked for more with the performance and results they have achieved so far with Alliance.
While some fans are still hoping that this is an early April fool's joke it seems highly unlikely. Further proof of that is that Fata and 33 were just as shocked by the news as the fanbase of Alliance.
As news is out, quick comment: 33 and I were removed from Alliance. This came as quite a surprise to me and (cont) https://t.co/mIsStzO6UY
— Adrian (@DotaFata) March 31, 2020
The Twitlonger post states:
33 and I were removed from Alliance. This came as quite a surprise to me and I feel pretty disappointed, since we created the team together. I'm trying to remain positive, since bitterness helps nobody. I will use the time to take a break from the game, working on myself and resetting from dota a bit. Afterwards Neta and I will look to rebuild a team with fresh energy and ambitions.
According to the official Alliance website, more news will come in the next few days and we’ll eventually know who the replacements will be. A good guess would be Gustav "s4" Magnusson who was part of the original TI-winning roster and last played for Evil Geniuses before becoming inactive. Many fans have regarded this as a dirty move from Alliance, as the team has basically qualified for The International 10 thanks to the current squad. Kicking two of the players who helped with such an achievement is really something we don’t see every day. The International 10 will mark the event’s return to Sweden and will take place in August unless the coronavirus says otherwise.
Stay tuned for more Dota 2 news, here on EarlyGame.
