With the roster lock date approaching for the 2023 Dota Pro Circuit, teams worldwide are finalizing their lineups, while some are taking the opportunity to expand into new regions. Alliance also hopped onto the South American train and picked up the Hokori roster that performed beyond expectations at The International 2022.
The announcement came in the form of a narrative video, as some of the best plays for Edward “Lumière” Valencia, João “4nalog” Giannini, Pablo “Vitaly” Roman, Thiago “Thiolicor” Cordeiro, and Brayan “Gardick” Cárdenas flashed onto the screen.
It appears that the signing of this lineup also means that Alliance will acquire Hokoro’s spot in the second division of SA DPC. Despite starting to perform well around 2022’s second DPC tour, the former Hokori squad found themselves outclassed in tour three, relegating as a result.
Shortly after this disappointing result, the team changed two members and qualified for TI11, which was a shock for Dota 2 fans. There was a division two team at the most prestigious Dota 2 event of the year, and they were just getting started.
Hokori pushed for an upper bracket slot in TI11 but missed it by an inch. The team later got eliminated in the first round of the lower bracket. Despite crashing out of the tournament, the former-Hokori roster was one of the most exciting teams at TI11, and they will once again try to rise to the occasion under a new banner.
Considering how well SA teams have been performing in global events over the last two years, there has been a rise in the number of organizations flooding into the scene. With the increasing support for SA, new talents are likely to flourish, while existing ones like Alliance LATAM will look forward to challenging the best Dota 2 teams in the world.
