Few legacy Dota 2 organizations have struggled to remain relevant as much as Alliance in the Dota Pro Circuit era, generally failing to compete with top rosters over the last several seasons. Now, management is introducing one of the oddest tryout methods to try and correct that in 2024.
After failing to qualify for ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023, fans thought a roster shuffle might be coming. Instead, Alliance CEO and Dota legend Loda announced that the team would be holding open tryouts from Dec. 1 to 7.
Typically, this would mean the org wants to evaluate fresh talent and see what players might fit with the roster it is trying to build. In this case, however, none of Alliance’s current players have been released despite every position accepting tryouts.
According to Loda, the team hasn’t kicked anyone, and every current Alliance player will also automatically be considered as part of these tryouts. That essentially translates to charlie, ChYuaN, Pablo, Handsken, and even Alliance staple s4 having to fight to keep their spots on the team moving forward.
Considering Alliance has only had one ‘winning’ season in the last three years—that being 2021, where s4 led a different lineup to a ninth-place finish at The International 10—and the team’s inability to retain top talent, something had to change. It appears that change is going to come through a biannual open tryout to ensure the roster is in peak condition and underperformers are replaced by fresh legs. “Our existing players will also be part of this [tryout],” Loda said. “We are still competing in tournaments. Moving forward, this is something we will be doing consistently two times per year.”
The last time Alliance had a roster of rising talent was in 2018-19 when they signed iNSaNiA, Boxi, miCKe, Taiga, and qojqva—the lineup that would go on to form the core of Team Liquid’s current title contender. Since then, the team has gone through several iterations and has never been able to build itself up over multiple seasons, which looks to be what Alliance wants to fix with these tryouts.
No specific limitations or details about the Alliance tryouts have currently been shared other than that they are open to any player and being run through Dec. 7. More info about who is participating, potential requirements, and the results should be shared before an eventual roster shuffle—if one does happen.
