Tundra Esports’ Dota 2 roster is imploding, and its pieces are fueling the WEU roster shuffle. Out of the wreckage, Team Liquid snatched Tundra’s TI-winning offlaner Neta “33” Shapira to complete its roster.
Right after The International 2023, Team Liquid kicked off the WEU Dota 2 roster shuffle as its star player stepped down. With Ludwig “zai” Wåhlberg retiring after the big event, Liquid suddenly found itself in the market for an offlaner, and the team found the most suitable one, according to the fans.
33 is coming off a legendary stint with Tundra, where he lifted the Aegis of Champions in 2022. During TI 2022, Tundra Esports dominated the Dota 2 world, and swept Team Secret in the finals in one of the most dominant runs in TI history.
Despite performing regionally well in 2023, Tundra faced various difficulties in 2023 as it had to move key player Saksa to the inactive Dota 2 roster ahead of TI12 title defense. Tundra added Topson to complete its roster in time, but the new iteration crashed out of the tournament after a solid group stage performance.
In an October interview with Dot Esports, Nine said Tundra’s Topson signing might not last past Dota 2’s TI 2023, and the team hadn’t given a thought to what would happen after TI. From that uncertain future, implosion arose as other teams picked up Tundra members.
Falcons swooped up Sneyking and Skiter while 33 headed to Liquid. Considering Nine walked away from the game and chose to retire, Tundra’s Dota 2 roster is only left with the temporary signing, Topson.
It’s currently unclear whether Tundra will stick around with another Dota 2 squad, potentially centered around Topson, or choose to leave altogether, leaving Topson teamless at the start of a competitive season yet again.
