It seems the post-TI roster shuffle is truly upon us. Evil Geniuses were the first to make big waves, opting to remove both s4 and SumaiL in favor of players from the former VP and Fnatic rosters.

The official announcement opens with the following:

“After a long and eventful 2018-2019 DPC season, Evil Geniuses as an organization took some time to consider our options for the coming year. Our Dota 2 fanbase is made up of some of the loudest and most passionate fans in the game, and for the 2019-2020 season, we have elected to make some changes that we believe will put us in a great position for succes

First, it is prudent to discuss our departures. We are releasing Gustav “s4” Magnusson into free agency, and Sumail “SumaiL” Hassan will remain under contract and be open to transfer talks. Both have earned an incredible amount of respect and appreciation here at EG for their results and the effort they’ve put into the team; they are top-flight talents, and we’re confident that they will find themselves surrounded by capable teammates.”

As a replacement, Abed “Azel” L. Yusop will be the first to join the side. The Filipino was first player to ever reach 10 000 MMR will play the mid-lane position for the new-look Evil Geniuses side after notable stints on Fnatic and Digital Chaos. The other arrival is Roman “RAMZES666” Kushnarev, formerly of Virtus.pro, who will swap from hard carry to off-laner in this lineup. Though he does have experience with the role from earlier in his career, the obvious question about this particular change is whether the Russian player will be able to communicate properly with the rest of the side.

Previous leaks suggested that the organization was planning to build their new side entirely around Arteezy, and these roster changes seem to suggest that they’ve done just that. It also means that the EG roster no longer has a TI winner to rely on in high-pressure situations.

EG finished 5th-6th at TI9, losing to the two eventual finalists of OG and Team Liquid on their way out. They finished the 2018-19 DPC season in fourth place off the back of three third-place finishes in the circuit, taking the bronze medal in Kuala Lumpur, Chongqing and Paris.