Next up in our series of Dota2 features is scene recap #1. In this feature we will mostly focus on teams’ roster changes, notable tournaments, surprises, dramas and more. Every second Monday we will be offering you a new episode of this kind, so have a read through it below and provide us with your feedback.



This month started really great as Dreamhack announced their Dota2 tournaments for both their events in Summer and Winter, once again sponsored by Vengeance. The company invested a total amount of 400 000 SEK (~45172€) in the Summer edition qualifiers and the invited teams have already been announced. An overview of which teams are participating can be found here. The tournament will cover both online and BYOC qualifiers and will give the sixteen best teams a chance to fight for a prize pool of 22 000€. The event will take place at venue in Jonkoping, where mTw , over four months ago, won the first Dreamhack Dota2 title in a thrilling final over fnatic EU. The Dreamhack itself is considered as a last chance for the Europeans to prove themselves at LAN tournament before The International 2012 is going to start in late Summer.

Good news arriving from France as well: It's been announced that The Premier League is coming back with season two. Even before the league started, there were several controversies about the involved teams, since runner ups from last season, compLexity Gaming and Absolute Legends , are not allowed to participate in season two due to server / lag issues and disagreements. And this isn't be the only change that've been made. It’s Gosu and former Fnatic team, BsB are being removed from league to make space for Moscow Five and the new FnaticRC lineup. The tournament will once again hand out 10 000$ for top three teams, in round robin system, with DotaCommentaries staff, who've repeatedly been hired for to shoutcast the event.

Concerning the start of TPL2, league director Angee stated the following:



The tournament started yesterday with mTw’s and dignitas’s convincing two-to-zero wins over Quantic and FnaticRC.

StarSeries, organized by StarLadder TV, finally finished online part with some unexpected results coming up. The Tournament’s LAN finals, worth 15 000$, were supposed to feature the Top4 finishers, but due the sponsor not being able to pay for their trip, It’s Gosu had to pull out and make room for Vladamir 'PGG' Anosov’s Moscow Five. Besides Natus Vincere (undefeated in fifteen games), Counter Logic Gaming , Darer Entertainment and Moscow Five there have been rumours that that finals could expand up to six teams. In that case Team Dignitas and DTS should be able to attend the even, as the teams are 5th and 6th place finishers. For final standings, click here. Offline finals are set for April 26th to 29th.



Tournament; Winner – award:

- GosuLeague Q3; Team Infused – Slot in GosuLeague
- GosuLeague Q4; Next.kz – Slot in GosuLeague
- GosuLeague Q5; EnRo – Slot in GosuLeague
- GosuLeague Q6; Moscow 5 – Slot in GosuLeague
- Moscow Five Dota2 Open; Moscow 5 – 1 000$
- Play4Dota2 #1; mTw – 500€
- Razer Invitational; Orange – 2 000$
- The GD Studios Arena – mousesports – 1 000$

The first weeks of April were going great, with over 5 000$ being won throughout various tournaments. With this being said, it seems like Dota2 is really keeping up high competitive activity, even in BETA stage of the game. Clearly the biggest tournament of the month so far was the Asian Invitational. What was originally planned to be a best of three clash between Malaysian powerhouses Orange Esports and MUFC eSports turned into an easy best of one match up in which the best team in Malaysia, Orange, managed to secure 2 000$ cheque.

Back in Europe, Moscow 5 clinched 1 000$ in their very own tournament, and secured their first major online tournament of the year. Even though Darer's team was banned from the competition, ArtStyle and Co. promised to play M5Open under fake accounts. However, they were unable to pass trough.

Teams and rosters:

It has been a while since European teams shuffled in a big manner, but in April, an earthquake of changes decided to hit the domestic soil once again. As The International 2012 is approaching, every team wants to secure themselves a spot in this tournament to participate. In seek for better results, many teams are changing their rosters right before biggest gaming event up to date.



Teams with most changes this month are mTw and WW. After recent roster changes, Mortal Teamwork decided to reform once again due to the poor results. On the other side, Norman 'Leaf' Zörner was unable to commit him self as full-time Dota2 player and decided to depart from the French squad. Not much time passed passed until these two teams started playing together, until finally merging in the end. The result is pretty impressive, as they managed to secure eleven wins in a row, and several top placings. The team based around Troels 'syndereN' Nielsen will be real contestant for upcoming majors. As a cherry on top of the cake, Rene 'Kebap-' Werner, former DotA/HoN/LoL/Dota2 player, decided to leave the LoL world and try out himself once again in Dota2 competitive waters (last time seen at The International 2011).

Also, in the United States, one of most talented teams around It’s Gosu got released by their former organization due the lack of stability, despite of their top four finish at StarSeries. After Sam 'BuLba' Baird decided to pull out of the team, the organization decided to drop former Team EZ, and pick up a new squad based around Tim ’PowerNet’ Moon, formerly known as Captain Planet.

Evil Genisuses couldn't avoid changes this time either, and after benching Amel 'PlaymatE' Barudzija for a whole month, both parties decided that it is better to stop cooperating.



Following Playmate’s departure, rumours are being spread that internal conflicts in Evil Geniuses are at their peak. With Rasmus 'MiSeRy' Berth Filipsen leaving, and returning due the contract obligations, Dominik 'Lacoste' Stipic is currently in the spotlight. Sources says that Lacoste is about to leave his team, because of miss-communication with his captain, Clinton 'Fear' Loomis. Even though his future is unknown for now, there are indications that EG is striving to become full American team. In his blog, famous American carry player Korok stated that EG was trying to snatch two players from his former team It’s Gosu; Bulba and Universe.

On the European side, mousesports is recently trying out several different lineups and players, notably Kuro 'KuroKy' Salehi Takhasomi, former mouz player Visar 'twiSta' Zymberi, and former mouz standin Georg 'Fire' Krug. In case of changes, Mirsad 'DeMeNt' Djokovic as a team captain, seems to be first on the strike.

Miscellaneous:

Team of the week: Mortal Teamwork
Player of the week: Ivan ’Vigoss’ Shinkarev
Hero of the week: Beastmaster
Item of the week: Necronomicon
Streamer of the week: Danil ’Dendi’ Ishutin

Scene recap #2 is coming up in twelve days. Provide your feedback in the comments section, to keep our Dota2 community growing as it did in the past month.