North America crumbled at Dota 2’s The International 2023, but a glimmer of hope emerged in nouns, placing top eight. This impressive run also marked the end of nouns’ Dota 2 roster, though, as the organization announced the departure of its Dota 2 team on Nov. 5.
The news caught fans off guard, especially considering the team’s admirable performance at TI, which had led many to believe they would continue together. Prior to the official announcement, David “Moo” Hull hinted at his search for a new team, leading the community to speculate that nouns might be considering a single roster change.
The follow-up announcement by nouns revealed that the organization had parted ways with its entire roster. Combining the two tweets, the roster consisting of Héctor “K1” Rodríguez, Nicolas “Gunnar” Lopez, Rodrigo “Lelis” Santos, Luke “Yamsun” Wang, and David “Moo” Hull may have decided against continuing to play together as a team.
Considering the Dota Pro Circuit is gone, Dota 2 teams and organizations around the world are currently preparing for the unknown. Despite a successful season, not fully knowing what’s ahead may have played a role in nouns players’ thought processes leading to the decision.
The NA and SA teams, excluding nouns, also had a horrendous showing at TI 2023, fueling more disbands as Beastcoast purged its roster as well. With organizations taking a step back and rosters evaluating their options, super teams could emerge from these two regions.
To survive against the uprising of Europe, the best-performing NA and SA players will want to stick together unless they decide to region-hop. While the DPC might be no more, the first major tournament of the year is set to take place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, with a $1 million prize pool in December, meaning players are likely to be racing to find a stable team ahead of its qualifiers.
