Alliance has announced that they have released team captain Adrian “Fata” Trinks and offlaner Neta “33” Shapira.

Fata and 33 notably formed what would become Alliance’s roster — along with Nikolay “Nikobaby” Nikolov, Linus “Limmp” Blomdin, and Simon “Handsken” Haag — after the pair left Ninjas in Pyjamas following the conclusion of The International 2019.

Alliance picked up the Fata-led stack in October last year after their former roster suddenly departed for Team Liquid in September.

The sudden roster change comes as a big surprise, as Alliance has been one of the stronger teams in Europe this season, which is arguably the strongest region in pro Dota.

With Fata at the helm, the team won DreamLeague Season 12 and finished third at ESL One Hamburg 2019 before the start of the 2019-2020 Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) season.

After bowing out in 7th-8th place in the MDL Chengdu Major, Alliance surged to a fourth-place finish at DreamLeague Season 13: The Leipzig Major.

However, the team failed to qualify for the now-canceled ESL One Los Angeles Major after losing to Team Aster in the grand finals of the StarLadder Kyiv Minor 2020.

Alliance founder and CEO Jonathan “Loda” Berg said in a statement that, even if the team’s results so far this season have been good, the sudden roster change was made in order to “further close the gap to the absolute top.”

Alliance’s midlaner, Limmp, added that the team felt like they needed to “switch things up to be able to grow further.”

“Competition in DotA 2 is ruthless […] It was not an easy choice to make but our goal is to become the best Dota 2 team in the world, nothing less. With time I think it will be clear that this is the right decision for everyone. I wish [Fata and 33] nothing but the best as they are incredible players. When they joined us in September last year, we knew they wanted to prove themselves and we could not have asked for more with the performance and results they have achieved so far with Alliance,” said Loda.

“I’m very thankful for the time and effort that both Adrian and Neta have put in for Alliance, as well as their achievements with the team. It’s always sad to have to change rosters but the Dota 2 division ultimately decided this was a needed step to get to where they want to,” Kelly Ong, Alliance’s Chief Strategy Officer, told ONE Esports.

In a statement posted on his personal Twitter account, Fata revealed that Alliance’s decision to remove him and 33 from their roster came as a big surprise.

“This came as quite a surprise to me and I feel pretty disappointed, since we created the team together. I’m trying to remain positive, since bitterness helps nobody. I will use the time to take a break from the game, working on myself and resetting from Dota a bit. Afterwards, Neta and I will look to rebuild a team with fresh energy and ambitions,” said Fata.

With the team set to start competing in the ESL One Los Angeles online EU-CIS regional league on April 4, Alliance will be announcing the replacements for Fata and 33 in the coming days.

Alliance Dota 2 roster:

  1. Nikolay “Nikobaby” Nikolov
  2. Linus “Limmp” Blomdin
  3. N/A
  4. Simon “Handsken” Haag
  5. N/A

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