The International 3 Western shuffle

Editor's note: The stars on the player's pictures represent how many The International tournaments the player has played in.

Mousesports

Germany

Mousesports has never been the most stable team and ever since KuroKy left the team for Na`Vi, they were missing a leader. Qojqva joined as an Offlaner and FATA- took the captain's seat. He explained on dotasource.de that there were some internal issues and therefore, Alex- had to leave the team. The Germans quickly found a replacement in the former captain of mTw, syndereN.

The following statements were giving regarding syndereN joining mousesports:

"Last year's The International 2 was the highlight of the whole year for many players and I was privileged enough to be a part of it. It is one of my biggest goals to attend TI3 this year and together with Troels, everyone in the team is as motivated as me right now to work for our goal."

mouz' manager Florian 'PaisY' Schmedes:

On behalf of the whole team, I would like to thank Alex for his engagement in mousesports and for the great time we had during the past months, especially in Kiev at the EMS One Finals. Of course it's always sad to part ways with a player after five intense months, but we had to in order to evolve as a team.

Troels 'syndereN' Nielsen:

"It's good to be back in a competitive, professional team. I've never lost interest in playing for a professional squad since mTw dissolved, and now the opportunity was finally given by mousesports. My old friend Black^ contacted me, asking me to represent mousesports and its sponsors BenQ, GeIL, Razer & Thortech, and it's been working out very well so far. mouz is a bunch of talented players, as I knew already, and the squad can be way more successful than it has been so far. I'm hoping, through drafting and leading the team in game, as well as my support play, to be the key to unlocking this team's full potential, as I believe the weakness of mouz has been of a strategical nature, and I find strategy to be one of my strengths. Hopefully it'll prove to be a winning combination in the time to come!"

Empire

Russia

Also Team Empire was hit by Na`Vi's curse when Funn1k left the team. Even though the team added Vigoss only shortly after, Goblak and Silent decided to leave the team. With twiSta- and Mitch, Empire added two players which have not been seen in the competitive scene for a while. TwiSta- played for mousesports until one year ago; Mitch played in ArtStyle's team Darer around the same time. There were no reasons given why Vigoss went inactive, but his slot has now been taken by LighTofHeaveN after he himself was inactive for two months. Vigoss is, however, officially still a part of the team.

As Empire's roster change did not happen in one go, a lot of statements were made along the way:

"Artur and Airat perfectly filled the spots in the team and made a huge impact on its' success. But unfortunately, the time when the concepts for the future of team has drastically diverged and continuing to play with the same roster would only degrade the team. Taking the players' will into account, the management has decided it is better for them to split ways. I want to thank the guys for their work and wish them the best in the future. It is time to move one and there is a lot of work to do - searchign new players and improving via training. Root for us and support the team, we need it now more than ever."

Artur 'Goblak' Kostenko on his departure: "Playing in this team gave me great experience and I have always felt the support of the organization. There is always a time when something needs to be changed and the time has now arrived. I want to thank the whole organization for their support and my teammates for our great work. Wish them good luck in their future!"

Visar 'twiSta-' Zymberi on him and Mitch joining:

"It's been a long time since i was involved in the competetive scene. But i am very happy and excited to announce that i have finally found the team and the players that i truely want to work with. I am very thankfull that Empire as an organisation but also the players have put so much trust and faith into me and i will make sure that we wont dissapoint. I wont sit and tell you guys that WE WILL BE THE BEST EVER, cause that would be a lie, but i can tell you that WE WILL WORK THE HARDEST and have a very strict training regime to become the best. Once again i would like to thank my team mates for such an opportunity and Empire and its sponsors. Keep supporting us!"

Damir 'Mitch' Škaricic on him and twiSta- joining:

"When I was contacted by Empire, I felt delighted to be offered a chance like this as this team consists of some of the best players not just in the Russia, but of the wholeDota 2 scene itself. Having a players like Scandal and Blowyourbrain in team is something that every Dota 2 player would prefer. We are full of enthusiasm and looking forward to complete the roster and training with the new team after a long time out of the competitive scene."

Dmitriy 'LightOfHeaven' Kupriyanov on him joining:

"Really happy to come on board of Team Empire. Going to explore new horizons."

Empire's managar AnahroniX on LighTofHeaveN joining: "I am glad to greet such a skilled player as Dima in our team. Together, we will move forward and try to show good results. Everything unsaid you will see through future showings of the team. Welcome to our team!"

dd.dota

France

Team dd's roster, built around the French players who used to play in mTw, has gone through so many changes that it is hard to keep track who is currently on it. To keep the list short, the biggest names who have played in dd so far were s4, L1NK, Ryze and qojqva. The roster with blr and BARBARRR was doing quite well and they qualified for the EMS LAN finals. Unfortunately, BARBARRR was not able to attend and the team took ComeWithMe as a stand-in. Since not being able to attend a LAN event is a major problem for The International, it was no surprise to see him swapped out. The team might have taken the chance to get both of the former Empire players at once and also removed blr.

Only a few words were shared among this roster change.

"I'm happy to announce that Goblak and Silent are joining dd to replace blr and babarrr. I want to thanks both blr and babarrr to their commitment to the team and I wish them good luck for their future in dota."

Artur 'Goblak' Kostenko:

"dd.Dota is an ambitious team and having known the three French players for such a long time - Sockshka even stood in for us during Dreamhack Winter - makes my decision a lot easier. Silent and I are confident with this new project and are glad to be given this opportunity."

Evil Geniuses

United States of America

Unlike the other teams in this feature, EG has not been a team with many recent changes. In fact, only two players have switched - BuLba to Team Liquid, Universe to Dignitas. This roster change, for once, was not caused by internal conflicts or commitment issues. Maelk, after nine years of competitive play, decided to retire permanently and will now serve Evil Geniuses as a coach. SexyBamboe will replace him and join the team in their bootcamp on the West coast of the United States.

Here are the statements given by the team:

"I am happy to say that I am quitting the competitive circuit, and will instead shift my focus to a new managerial role within Evil Geniuses. After nine years of playing Dota competitively I have long thought about stepping back as a player and instead directing my passion elsewhere. We’ve been looking at the roster for a few weeks now, and I am confident the team will succeed in the qualifier for The International and continue to deliver the results fans have come to expect from the team. I would like to thank both the community and the team for their constant support. I wouldn’t have been able to do this for so long if it weren’t for the support of fans and people in the industry."

Alaan 'Bamboe' Faraj:

"I’m excited to join the Evil Geniuses team. After our strong performance in G-1 qualifiers it felt natural to join up with them. I believe that we can become one of the best with the right mindset and dedication."

RoX.KIS

Russia

After 3D!Clan dropped two of their players, one of them being Sharfik, they aquired two players from RoX.KIS, STALIANER and Sedoy. Sharfik started to play as a stand-in for RoX and got eventually added to the roster. Just a few hours after this announcement, Dread also left 3D!Clan and joined RoX.KIS. Only one week later, Sharfik left the team again after a request to switch more players got denied.

Solo replaced him. Three weeks pass and another announcement is made - hardEEV is leaving the team due to real life commitments and gets replaced by VANSKOR.

Many changes, many statements. You can find them here:

"Hi everyone! I want you to welcome a new member to our team - Artem 'Sharfik' Marzavin. He is a great player with high individual skill and game understanding, he can lead the team and last, but not least - he is a nice guy to talk to. I am sure this addition will help our team a lot. Thanks to everyone who supports us! We will try to meet your expectations!"

Sharfik on him joining:

"Hi everyone! I am sincerely happy to join your team with such skilled and motivated players. I believe that we will move up and forward together!"

RoX.KIS' manager Denis 'PODOX' Pestretsov on Solo replacing HardEEv

"Hello everyone! A week ago our support player Gleb 'HardEEv' decided to retire from dota and focus on studying, working etc. Of course, I supported his decision. Thank you for the time spent in our team, for playing with us and your positive images in the skype calls. My boys had a task to find a young unknown player with huge motivation. Ivan 'Vanskor' Skorohod happened to be that guy. He is 18 years old, he loves to play support role, he is very positive and great to talk to. It is all important for our team. We gave him 1-week trial period and I am happy to announce that he easily joined the team and now shows great games! Welcome! Thanks to everyone who roots for us and follows us. RoX.KiS fighting!"

Ivan 'VANSKOR' Skorokhod on Solo replacing HardEEv:

"I am really glad that guys from RoX.KiS took a note of me. It's a huge responsibility for me, that's why I will try to do my best. Today we proved that we could fight with the top teams. We have a lot of training to do and of course there is desired Poland ahead of us. We will try to make things lively for our opponents and fight for the top places. Thanks to everyone once again!"