Alliance has recruited more than half of the former goonsquad lineup to compete in the 2023 Dota Pro Circuit as part of the Swedish organization’s most recent full rebuild. This applies to s4 and Handskent as well, who were formerly members of the squad for the 2021 campaign and The International 10 before being let go following the competition.
This will be s4βs fourth time with the team since initially joining up and winning TI3 with the org. It will also be his third time captaining a different lineup under Alliance.
βIβm excited to be back in Alliance working with all the people and staff behind the scenes and especially with this new lineup that I think has a lot of potential going forward,β s4 said. βSince we are coming from two different regions you can expect some fun Dota from us starting in Division II while we fight our way up. Even though fansβ expectations are low right now, my goal is to change that and go far next year.β
Handsken is coming back for his third stint with Alliance but will be swapping from position four to position five, a role he has played in the past for different stacks. Charlie Arat, better known as CharlieDota, will follow his former goonsquad teammates over and take up the carry role under the A banner.
That isnβt all Alliance has done during this refresh for 2023, with the European org reaching over into Southeast Asia to pull in some talent for the first time, signing both Ng βChYuanβ Kee Chyuan and Remus βponloβ Goh. ChYuan specifically had a strong year for Fnatic while ponlo has bounced around a bit despite being a solid talent. Both will be making their EU Dota debut in 2023.
Loda remains as team director while former assistant coach Leon Lee βArthurβ Wei Yip transitions to team principal and Pontus βChef P.β Bengtsson takes up the role of manager.
For Alliance, this looks like taking a step back to take two steps forward. The last time they had success of any kind was with s4 leading a team in 2021, and the orgβs best years overall were also with him at the forefront. Bringing him in along with Handsken feels like Alliance acknowledging they need trustworthy hands to steady the ship after a very poor showing in 2022.
βWhen we fall, we get back up. When we fall, we pause, and restart,β Loda said. βToday we are not going back to that which was, but to who we are. With a more fine-tuned process and experienced staff, handpicked to complement our returning captain Iβm incredibly excited for the coming season.β
Along with that, bringing on some newer talent that at least has some experience playing in the DPC is looking to the future and betting on the teamβs ability to mesh while building to a goal of contending for a spot at TI12.
It also sounds like this might be s4βs final ride, as the announcement noted he will spend βthe last of his competitive years with usβ before swapping into a performance team role to continue leading Allianceβs legacyβsomething that many of his former TI3 teammates have already done.