The first big roster move ahead of the International 7 has taken place, roughly five days after the conclusion of the Kiev Major.
American esports organization Team NP has recruited former Team Secret support player Johan “pieliedie” Åström, as well as Adrian “FATA-” Trinks, who competed for B)ears prior to the Kiev Major.
The roster move comes roughly one month after NP elected to remove its support duo, which consisted of Theeban “1437” Siva and Avery “SVG” Silverman. Prior to their removal, NP failed to qualify for the Kiev Major and placed last at the Dota 2 Asia Championship.
The current NP roster, which also features the organization’s owner Jacky “EternaLEnVy” Mao, as well as the International 5 champion Kurtis “Aui_2000” Ling as their support player, now contains four of the five players that competed together on Cloud9 during 2014. At the time, the squad, which also housed offlaner Pittner “bOne7” Armand, were considered to be one of the best Western teams of that time period. Known for their ingenuity in picks, item builds, and playstyle—the squad were hampered by the fact that they never won a LAN event while competing together.
All teams looking to make roster changes after the Kiev Major have been allotted a total of 13 days to add or remove players prior to the International 7. Any team looking to change players following this period will not be able to receive invitations to the Dota 2 world championship in August, and will instead be forced to qualify through its open qualifiers.
