This article is part of our Dota 2 series.
While China and SEA have managed to keep most of their best players within the region, a hearty mixture of new blood and competitive legends make up the new rosters.
China/SEA
Newbee
Subtractions:
Chen "Hao" Zhihao
Zhang "Mu" Pan
Wong "Chaun" Hock Chuan
Additions:
Xu "uuu9" Han
Song "Sccc" Chun
Zeng "Faith" Hongda
Newbee have chosen to almost completely reshape their roster, dipping into both the pool of new talent and old legends to rebuild their organization. To replace Chaun, Newbee opted to bring in experienced Chinese player, Faith, who won The International 2012 with Invictus Gaming. Faith brings years of experience to a team that is now comprised of four young players and one 'old man'. Newbee's other changes centered around bringing in new blood to the international scene. Both uuu9 and Sccc have played in China for lower-tier teams, and are now getting their chance to break out into the top-tier. In particular, Uuu9's resume with his old team, TongFu, is impressive. He boasts four first-place finishes in Chinese tournaments, but no results against European or American teams. Sccc hasn't fared as well competitively, but is notably the second player to reach 9,000 matchmaking rating. The only other 9k player is Miracle, and if Sccc is anything like Miracle, then Newbee is going to be a terrifying team this season.
LGD Gaming
Subtractions:
Sun "Agressif" Zheng
Lei "MMY!" Zengrong
Xue "September" Zhichuan
Zhuang "xiao8" Ning
Additions:
Wang "Ame" Chunyu
Chen "Xz" Zezhi
Chen "Victoria" Guanhong
Sun "Jixing" Runfa
LGD was essentially gutted after a disappointing finish at The International 6. The decision was made to rebuild the team around Maybe, pulling in players from lower-tier Chinese teams. The bulk of the new LGD roster is the old CDEC Youth lineup. Ame, Xz and Victoria all played together, which does bring a nice element of stability to a brand new lineup. LGD's fourth new addition is an almost completely unknown player, Jixing. He's almost exclusively played for lower-tier teams, working his way up to a three-month stint with Vici Gaming Potential and now LGD. How this new lineup will perform is still completely unknown. They still have Maybe in the middle lane, and hopefully that is enough to build a team around.
MVP Phoenix
Subtractions:
Pyo "MP" No-a
Lee "FoREV" Sang-don
Additions:
Kim "Velo" Tae-sung
Lee "Reisen" Jun-yeong
The changes to the MVP Phoenix roster was among the saddest news of the season. It was impossible not to root for the old MVP Phoenix lineup, and their journey from underdogs to true contenders was arguably one of the greatest stories in Dota. MVP's face-rush style of play is one that many teams have tried and failed to emulate, and now that torch passes on to a new team. Replacing MP and FoREV are Velo and Reisen, two players from MVP's 'feeder' team, MVP Hot6ix. Both new players are relative unknowns, showing a mixed bag of performances in the recent MPGL SEA Championships. They did manage to take second place at that tournament, but got crushed 0-2 in under 45 minutes of combined game time in the finals by Execration's new lineup.
EHOME
Subtractions:
Daryl Koh "iceiceice" Pei Xiang
Lu "Fenrir" Chao
Additions:
Liu "Sylar" Jiajun
Liu "Garder" Xinzhou
A bit lost in the topsy-turvy roster shuffle, EHOME decided to bring the legendary carry player Sylar on board to replace iceiceice. Joining Sylar is Garder, a support player from the International 2015 CDEC roster that took second place. Unfortunately for EHOME, both of these players have looked past their prime in recent competitions. This is not the same Sylar who took second-place at The International 2014 and got Lone Druid banned every game against him. EHOME have chosen to recruit from China's pool of 'legends', rather than trying to find new talent amongst the sea of low-tier feeder teams. It will be interesting to contrast EHOME's results with Newbee, who have dipped into the pool of feeder teams to round out their post-TI6 roster.
Vici Gaming Reborn
Vici Reborn has been disbanded, and all its former players have been moved to either Vici Gaming or Vici Gaming.J.
TnC Gaming
Subtractions:
Marc Polo "Raven" Luis Faustro
Jimmy "DeMoN" Ho
Nico "eyyou" Barcelon
Additions:
John Linuel "Teehee" Abanto
Ryo "ryOyr" Hasegawa
Mark "Cast" Pilar
TnC is another team that found itself absolutely gutted following The International 6. With their three best players gone, and the pool of SEA players already picked thin, TnC's new roster looks like a definite downgrade. The loss of DeMoN is enough by itself to cripple TnC, but he took an excellent carry and support along with him. The replacements are familiar names in the mid-tier SEA scene, but don't hold much of a candle to their predecessors. Teehee has at least played with TnC in the past, giving them some chemistry to build on. Ry0yr and Cast both come in as relative unknowns, only having spent time playing with SEA teams like Rave and Mineski. It is very unlikely that this new TnC roster comes close to the success of their TI6 squad, but they should be a contender within the SEA region.
Fnatic
Subtractions:
-Yeik Nai "MidOne" Zheng
-Djardel Jicko "DJ" Mampusti
-Adam Erwann "343" Shah
Additions:
Marc Polo "Raven" Luis Faustro
Jimmy "DeMoN" Ho
Nico "eyyou" Barcelon
Fnatic's roster took an interesting turn after The International 6, with everyone except Chai Yee "Mushi" Fung and Chong Xin "Ohaiyo" Khoo leaving. In response, they picked up the core of TnC Gaming and added a lot of young talent to a team with two veterans. With both Mushi and DeMoN on the team, they have access to a huge bank of experience. Whether the team can capitalize on it is another question entirely. Fnatic's main challenge is likely to be internal, as Mushi is famously difficult to play with due to his intense drive to win. They recently struggled in the MPGL SEA Championships, after Execration knocked them down to the lower bracket only for MVP Phoenix to eliminate them. A fourth-place finish behind Execration, MVP Phoenix and Mineski is not the kind of results a lineup of Fnatic's caliber should be putting out. This upcoming major season will be a test for Fnatic, both regionally and internationally.
Team Faceless
Dominik "Black^" Reitmeier
Anucha "Jabz" Jirawong
Daryl Koh "iceiceice" Pei Xiang
Toh Wai "xy-" Hong
Wong Jeng "NutZ" Yih
Team Faceless is iceiceice's new team, consisting of four SEA players and Black^. This roster is my personal vote for this season's most exciting new team. With two fan-favorites in iceiceice and Black^ backed up by a highly skilled, but relatively unknown team, this should be a delightful group to watch. The three Singaporeans have all completed their compulsory military service, so there will be no interruptions to their practice or performance.
