Title image courtesy of WePlay!
Roster shuffles continue to happen with no signs of slowing down this DPC season.
It seems as if not a week goes by where teams are changing out players on their rosters. At first glance, it seems that CIS and China seem to hold the most amount of swaps.
Just this last week alone fans saw CDEC, EHOME, Team Sirius and Gambit making changes.
Last week we reported changes for FlytoMoon, Winstrike, with Vladimir "rodjER" Nikogosyan in the lineup and Fighting Pandas featuring Jacky 'EternaLEnVy' Mao.
Two weeks before that we noted other changes between PSG.LGD and CDEC.
That brings the total roster changes to nearly 100! And we are only at the halfway mark of the DPC 2019-2020 season. If history is any indication, the number of player changes will just continue to rise, the busiest time being just before The International qualifiers as teams try for some Hail Mary plays for a chance at landing a spot in the pinnacle of all Dota 2 events of the year.
DPC 2019-2020 changes dwarf all previous seasons since the inception of the DPC in 2017. In the first season, DPC 2017-2018 saw only a handful of changes registered. The second season, DPC 2018-2019, jumped to over 50. Double that in half time DPC 2019-2020 is looking to be the most unstable ever.
Part of the spike could be attributed to that all teams competing in the closed qualifiers now earn DPC points, therefore earning them a spot on the rankings list. This means that the moves of the lower-tier teams, that are plagued with instability, are now being recorded. That could explain some, but not all.
When looking at the compiled list, teams that are in the top 30, that have made appearances at events are engaging in multiple changes - Gambit, Na'Vi, NiP, Chaos, Infamous, Furia - to name a few.
Originally intended to create transparency, a clear path to The International and roster stability, the DPC is definitely not holding up to the nature of team challenges.
Announced just last week, big changes are expected for the upcoming season and once again, the adjustments are partly aimed at creating more stability and a tighter reign on the shuffles.
Only time will tell how effective the new roster lock rules will be.
