The month of March was full of transfers and roster changes caused by the results of the 3^rd Dota Pro Circuit Major of the season as well as the qualifiers for the 4^th Major. As you might expect, the teams who went through the most severe changes were the ones that underperformed.

Teams and Players

OG

Perhaps the most crucial roster change in Dota 2 for March involved OG and their TI 8 carry, ana, who has returned to the team. I already wrote a full article about this transfer and the implications it had on the professional scene, anticipating that the European region was going to be significantly impacted by it. And indeed, at the recent qualifiers for the MDL Disneyland Major, OG finished 3^rd and qualified for their first Major of the season.

EHOME

This Chinese team is currently sitting at number 12 in the Dota Pro Circuit rankings and is struggling to maintain its position. But since they’ve gotten worse and worse results in recent months, the management of the organization started to lose their patience and decided to change things around.

In total, no less than four players got changed in the space of five weeks. One came on a loan, another came as a stand-in while two others came definitively. The most important of these changes have involved Ferrari_430 and xiao8. Both of these players are legends in their region and might have a chance of helping EHOME recover. However, the odds are against them, simply because China is stacked with dominant teams right now. And at least three of those teams are much better than EHOME.

PSG.LGD

After three semi-failed Majors, where they finished 5^th – 6^th twice and 4^th once, the former TI 8 finalist decided to bring in a second coach. Yao from Team Root has joined the organization, probably to help them fix some of the team’s tactical problems. This guy is a former LGD player and an absolute legend in China. So, his transfer makes a lot of sense considering how much PSG.LGD has fallen compared to its 2018 level.

Mineski

After three failed Major qualifiers and a failed Major (9^th – 12^th), Mineski decided that Febby and pieliedie had to go. The team’s carry had also been changed in January, but now the captain and the position 4 support have been changed as well. To replace these two players, the organization brought in ninjaboogie and Bimbo. The first of these players is an accomplished veteran in the region, and the other is a former Mineski member who spent around 5 years with the team.

These changes could lead to positive results, but the odds of that happening are still low. The reason is obvious: Fnatic and TNC Predator are dominating the SEA region, and you can’t just change your roster and expect to beat them right away. It takes months of training before a new roster can play as a unit, and there’s only one more Major left until the end of the season, apart from the 4^th, to which Mineski already failed to qualify.

Forward Gaming

After three consecutive failures, the star players of Forward Gaming decided to give up the battle and left the team. SVG (the captain) along with Resolut1on and UNiVeRsE got replaced by much weaker players, and as a result, Forward Gaming is almost guaranteed to crash and burn in the months to come. They still have a chance of qualifying to The International 2019 by winning the North American Qualifiers, but the odds are against them.

Infamous

Infamous decided to drop Mason and Wu, even though they placed 9^th – 12^th at the DreamLeague Major. In their place, they brought in oliver and Biver, two very experienced players from Team Spirit. Until a year ago, European players saw South America as the last place to be as a Dota 2 professional. But ever since Valve changed the rules and made it possible for South American teams to have their own qualifiers for big events, quite a few people have started to see this region as a place that makes it easy to qualify to the most important Dota 2 events in the circuit.

Flying Penguins

In spite of finishing 3^rd – 4^th at the latest Dota 2 Minor, Flying Penguins decided to disband at the end of March. Going forward, North American competitors will have one less team to worry about. In case you weren’t aware of Flying Penguins’ existence at all, this was EternaLEnVy’s team. So no surprises there as far as I’m concerned.

Tigers

Last month, Tigers brought in 458 and Velo to replace their losses. However, it looks like 1437’s team is not going anywhere, even though Dendi is trying his best to help them win games. At the recent SEA Qualifiers for the MDL Disneyland Major, Tigers finished 4^th in their group and didn’t even compete in the Playoffs.

Alliance

Alliance had such a promising start this season but lost their momentum as soon as the big European teams started to play their A game. In March, Loda’s team made one last change in an attempt to strengthen the roster. He brought in Madara, a very experienced carry who used to play for Ad Finem and mousesports. So, you may recognize the name, not just from Naruto, but also from the fact that he played in the Grand Final of a Major a few years ago.

Royal

Royal is the second Dota 2 squad of the Chinese club known as Royal Never Give Up. Their coach is Super, a famous Dota 2 player from China, while their captain is ddc. This is another giant in the Chinese region, who placed 3^rd at The International 2017, back when he was playing for LFY.

The whole team was created in March, and while it does have some big names, it suffers from a fatal flaw: it competes in China. In other words, it has almost no chance of placing in the top 3 in a qualifier, at least for the foreseeable future.

Team Empire

And finally, we have Team Empire. They recently had a fabulous run in the CIS Qualifiers for the MDL Disneyland Major, where they finished 2^nd and secured a ticket for the LAN event.

During March, Team Empire brought in a new captain, KingR, as a stand-in. However, things have been going so well for them since then that I suspect they’ll make the transfer permanent as soon as they have the option.

Gambit Esports are probably kicking themselves over letting the player go to one of their main rivals. They probably did not expect Team Empire to become so strong in such a short time after this move. In the CIS region, Gambit was supposed to be the best team after Virtus.pro but during the last qualifiers, both Na’Vi and Empire proved to be stronger.