Dota 2: Top 5 transfers of the 2017-2018 DPC season

With 2018 coming to an end, this is a good time to review the most notable transfers of DPC 2017-2018.

Changing rosters can be a very complicated process, even though the theoretically strongest squad doesn’t work. This is also an opportunity for us to see that changing one member can change the entire history of Dota 2.

Neta “33” Shapira to OpTic

One of the biggest surprises of the year was when 33 joined OpTic. This move comes after Rasmus “MISERY” Filipsen decided to leave the team to join EG as the team’s new leader. While this move didn’t work for EG, it was different with 33 and OpTic. 33 initially joined the team to compete in 4th place, but at ESL One Katowice, they tested 33 in an offlane role. From there, OpTic realized 33 could become the star of the team if they helped him shine.

This change makes OpTic more complete. 33 became the main factor in the team’s victory and brought Ludwig “zai” Wahlberg to position 4. This made the support core stronger and OpTic became a formidable threat towards the end of the DPC season. They ranged from the team that was continuously knocked out from the outside of the tournament to the minor champion StarLadder ImbaTV Season 5, second place ESL One Birmingham, and the top 6 Summit 9.

OG added Anathan “ana” Pham and Topias “Topson” Taavitsainen

When Tal “Fly” Izik and Gustav “s4” Magnusson moved to EG, OG completely fell apart. The team had so little time to find replacement players, not to mention make sure the new roster ran smoothly. In the end, OG brought back ana, who had previously competed with several mix teams. They also brought in rookie Topson.

Like OpTic’s ‘blood change’, this process is completely forced. It forced the team to change many things. Johan “N0tail” Sundstein becomes position 5 and IGL. Sebastien “7ckngMad” Debs moves to Offlane position. Ana from mid to carry. The team wrote a historic journey by winning TI8, an unexpected result.

Also, this roster didn’t last too long due to ana’s decision to stop playing after TI8. Although only playing with OG had a tournament, but it was extremely important. This is unprecedented in Dota 2 precedent. Unfortunately, this could be a lineup that we will only see once in a lifetime, when Ana is highly unlikely to return.

EG added Fly and s4

This is probably one of the best transfers in theory. EG had some of the best individual talents in the world at the time: Artour “Arteezy” babaev, Sumail “SumaiL” Hassan, Saahil “UNiVeRsE” Arora and Andreas “Cr1t-” Nielsen. However, when Cr1t- gave up the leadership position, the team lacked people who could promote each individual in the team. At the same time, EG needed a solid 5th player.

EG changed their roster in 2018 to no avail and were forced to look for a new offlaner and position 5. Fly and s4 are the right pieces. Fly is one of the most iconic captains in Dota 2 history and the one who can bring the team together. S4 is a brilliant offlane with a ‘thrifty’ playstyle – perfect for the team’s two greedy cores, Arteezy and Sumail, to thrive. Before Fly and s4 joined, EG had a star lineup but always had to leave in the group stage or lose early in the next round. When these two names joined, they quickly put the team in the top 8 strongest teams in the world. EG won Summit 9, 3rd place TI8 and Kuala Lumpur Major in the new DPC season.

Virtus.pro adds Vladimir “RodjER” Nikogosyan

Virtus.pro was one of the strongest teams ahead of TI7. After only placing 5-6 in the tournament, VP continues to be one of the most stable teams in the world. For the rest of 2017 the team finished in the top 3 and won ESL One Hamburg. Entering 2018, VP also won again ESL One Katowice.

Despite such achievements, Virtus.pro has never held the title of the best team in the world. That stage was a race of three teams: Virtus.pro, Liquid and Secret. So Virtus.pro decided they needed to change to be able to go from the top team to the strongest team.

That’s when RodjER joined. He has a different hero pool than Ilya “Lil” Ilyuk and immediately fits the team. At the time, he was also the best position 4 player in the region and one of the best supports in the meta. When joining, Virtus.pro surpasses the rest of the competitors and is clearly the strongest team in the world. VP won The Burcharest Major, ESL One Birmingham and most recently the Kuala Lumpur Major. Not to mention, the team also ranked first in the DPC rankings last season and is considered the strongest team of the 2017-2018 season. In addition, the team is currently at the top of the DPC rankings this season.

PSG.LGD adds Yang “Chalice” Shenyi and Yap “xNova” Jian Wei

This is probably the best change in this buy as PSG.LGD adds Chalice and xNova. PSG.LGD has many talents on the team such as Wang “Ame” Chunya, Lu “Maybe” Yao, and Xu “fy” Linsen. However, the team doesn’t have the right players, the right roles, or the right tactics to bring out all the members. That’s why apart from the runner-up of the PGL Open Bucharest, LGD’s entire 2017 season was poor. PSG.LGD had trouble playing outside of China, never in the top of the world.

But when Chalice and xNova joined, things started to change. Chalice is an offlane that doesn’t need much to build, allowing Ame and Maybe to take advantage of more gold and team roles. This forces fy back into his original role. Ultimately, xNova’s playstyle and warding helped shape PSG.LGD’s aggressive style of play until the end of the season.

The combination of these 5 members helps fy not have to manage everything all the time. In an interview, the team said they use a democratic system; with fy or xNova taking over most of the early game and they pass the captain role to Ame later in the game. This has always been one of fy’s biggest weaknesses as he has never been able to call and play at the same time. This lineup allows fy to play at superstar level without sacrificing anything related to leadership or team cohesion.

After these two players joined, the team went from losers in the qualifiers to high rankings on LAN. At the biggest LAN tournaments at the end of the season, PSG.LGD finished 2nd at ESL Birmingham, won EPICENTER, beat MDL Changsha 3rd Chinese SuperMajor, and runner up at TI8.

According to VP Esports