Dota 2 post-TI 2021 roster shuffle: S4 officially leaves the Alliance roster

The post-TI transfer window is an occasion where the biggest roster shuffles in Dota 2 happen.

As Valve looks at tournament data to balance their game, esports organizations look at their performance to determine the future of their roster. With the Dota 2 community abuzz with rumors, a number of major changes to several tier-1 teams have already taken place. Quincy Crew have disbanded, Fnatic's contract has already expired with their mid and offlaner and Alliance had earlier parted with two of their Dota 2 TI 10 roster members. On top of this, they have now released Gustav "S4" Magnusson from his Dota 2 contract with Alliance yesterday.

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S4 was the final vestige of the original No Tidehunter Dota 2 crew

Before Alliance was even formed as a Dota 2 organization, its would-be roster was officially known as No Tidehunter. The team was a band of Swedish Dota 2 legends: Jonathan "Loda" Berg, Henrik "AdmiralBulldog" Ahnberg, Jerry "EGM" Lundkvist, Joakim "Akke" Akterhall, and S4 himself.

This was the full TI-winning roster for TI 2013, as well as the squad for TI 2014 and 2016. Afterwards, the organization changed their roster drastically leading up to TI 2018. Throughout 2018 and 2019, the current Team Liquid squad captained by Aydin "iNSaNiA" Sarkohi was signed by Alliance. This year, they chose to recall its golden-day alumni, at least partially, for TI 10.

Last week, on October 21, the organization announced that Linus “Limmp” Blomdin and Artiom “fng” Barshack would be leaving the organization to seek further opportunities elsewhere. With S4's departure, the team says goodbye to their final member of the original No Tidehunter team. The sole exception, of course, is Loda, who is the current CEO of Alliance.

"It's been a joy to have Gustav around" Loda wrote on the official Alliance blog update.

"I can speak for all the players and staff when I say that, and it's been a blessing to spend a few more moments with our old friend."

At any rate, Alliance has been a subpar team in terms of TI performance for half a decade now. TI 10 marks the only main stage series win for since TI 2016. With three slots ripe for the taking, the community is once again abuzz with speculation about possible candidates, including the members of the recently disbanded Quincy Crew.