Azure Ray’s roster shuffle has Dota 2 competitors calling for ESL Kuala Lumpur DQ

Despite starting the 2023 Dota 2 season late, Azure Ray became one of the saviors of the Chinese scene at TI 2023 with its legendary roster consisting of Somnus, Chalice, and Fy. The trio decided to retire once again, though, forcing AR to make a three-player roster change.

Prior to announcing its new players, AR received an invite to Dota 2’s ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023 LAN event. Usually, Dota 2 teams are allowed to play with two stand-ins. That has been the case in previous years, and with that rule in mind, Team Spirit’s manager Korb3n has been waiting for ESL to disqualify Azure Ray from the tournament.

While Korb3n would be right in expecting a DQ for AR in previous years, Dota 2’s competitive landscape is set to change in 2024 since Dota Pro Circuit is gone. ESL’s rulebook gives more control to the organizer in this regard, and the rules are less strict compared to Valve tournaments.

In ESL tournaments, if a team changes 40 percent of its roster, they “might” lose their invitation to the event. Emphasis on the might here since ESL has the final say here. The roster-changing team and ESL have talks, and if ESL is sure of the new roster’s skill level and ability to perform similarly, it can benefit them from the doubt.

Despite losing three franchise players, AR bolstered its roster with notable names like XinQ and Xm. ESL may have believed that the new AR roster could be as good as the previous one while retaining from punishing a team too harshly right after the post-TI 2023 roster shuffle season.