Alliance has completely reshaped its Dota 2 roster, building a new core centered around the returning Nikobaby and Handsken—and yes, AdmiralBulldog is also involved in the shenanigans.
With those two returning players from Alliance’s run to The International 10 acting as the core of the rebuild, the organization has signed Ondřej “Supream^” Štarha, Lelis, and Adam “Aramis” Moroz to the roster, alongside coach Niklas “okcya” Koskinen.
Supream will be charged with bringing over his aggressive approach to the midlane after a strong performance with Chicken Fighters during the 2021 Dota Pro Circuit. His former team’s coach, okcya, is also joining him to help lead Alliance from the same position.
Lelis is making the jump from North America back to Europe after spending the last season with Quincy Crew. His veteran presence and unpredictability in the offlane should provide Alliance with some variability that wasn’t present with its last roster—and he pairs well with the powerful duo of Nikobaby and Supream.
Nikobaby will continue to be a terror for Alliance. Handsken, the only other remaining player from the previous squad, has also swapped roles, moving back to his natural position five and taking up the position as the team’s new captain—a title that was held by the departing s4 during the previous season.
“For the coming season we decided that we want to rebuild things from the bottom up,” Alliance CEO and co-founder Jonathan “Loda” Berg said. “Handsken who has a history of being position five and drafter has now returned to the position. Not because he is forced to do so, but because it’s a natural step. Throughout the year him and Niko have played an incredible amount of games together and they have become not only a natural duo within the game, but they are also a driving force within the team.”
Aramis, a former mainstay player for the formidable Vikin.gg roster that was released in July, will be joining Handsken in supporting the team. He’ll act as a stabilizing hand for the team’s more aggressive frontline.
Alliance also trolled the Dota community, teasing the return of legendary player and streamer AdmiralBulldog on the official team registration. But it wasn’t all a meme since the team has listed him as an official substitute player, meaning he could step in if one of the other five players on the roster can’t play for some reason.
Europe is historically one of the strongest regions in Dota and several of the top teams in the region, such as Team Secret, Team Liquid, and OG, have been going through their own rebuilds as well. This new Alliance roster will have a lot to contend with heading into the 2022 DPC if they want to improve upon the previous iteration’s ninth-place exit at TI10.
