After the success, and failure, of many teams at Valve’s $20m Dota 2 tournament The International this month, the official roster locking system is getting an overhaul in time for teams to rush to find a squad that works.
See who the best Dota 2 players are to keep an eye on during this roster swap.
In a blog post from the official Dota 2 site, the new way we’ll see teams swapping and fighting over players will begin with a dedicated “drop period” in which players are only permitted to leave rosters.
This means that, unless someone leaves, the roster is automatically the same as it was in the last season, which should do away with sudden realisations a few hours before the deadline that not everyone has locked in and hmm, why might that be?
This first dropping phase is open until September 4 for this roster window, and if you’re still on the same team by the end of that day then you’re bound until the end of the Fall Major. The second “invitation period” phase runs from September 4 to 18, allowing teams to invite any non-locked player to join their squad.
Splitting the swapping process up in this manner should mean situations such as the last-minute drop-and-poach tactics of Evil Geniuses and Team Secret in the run up to the Manila Major will be avoided, as completed squads are safely locked in and only agreed free agents are on the table.
Substitutes are not required to be invited during the roster locking window, and can be picked up once Major qualifiers are completed, giving even those who miss out on a big squad pick up a chance to be on the bench for a Valve event.
Of course, all this means the post-TI shuffle has begun in earnest, and we can get an idea of how seismic the shifts will be by keeping an eye on which teams are losing players during the drop phase. Already half of the CIS region are waiting for invites as Virtus.pro and Team Spirit’s rosters are dropped, and MP has left Korean side MVP.