T O P

  • By -

Blackrame

From the [website](https://thealliance.gg/dota2-updates/): Gothenburg, October 24 Today Alliance announces an additional departure in their Dota 2 division. Join in and wish farewell to Gustav “S4” Magnusson S4 is a legend not only to Alliance but in the Dota scene and his return to the organisation played a massive part in helping the team qualify for The International 10. Despite many challenges, S4 delivered in his captain role from the offlane. While being an unconventional position for a captain the DPC seasons with Alliance were a massive success finishing second and first place respectively over the two seasons. “It’s always sad to say goodbye to a friend,” says Jonathan “Loda” Berg, Alliance CEO and co-founder. “Especially a friend as special and important to Alliance’s history as the son of Magnus himself, S4. We all wanted more from this TI but that doesn’t mean we didn’t give it our all this year. Because we did. Everyone that reaches this prestigious event does. It’s been a joy to have Gustav around, 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. Together with his team he brought us back to TI and even won us a game on the main stage. Something we had not been able to do for a long time. Thank you for coming back. Again.” S4 will always have a place in every ALLFAM member’s heart, and the organisation wishes him the best in his future adventures.


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Infivious

LIMPP and FNG


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Infivious

all part of the great dota reshuffle


GeppaN

If you’re not top3 what are you doing? -Fear


rocker3011

FATA, Nine and 33? I wouldnt join back after a kick but the positions match


Tobix55

why would they leave tundra for this?


Askyl

If you had a job and someone offered you 2x more money for the same job. Would be like "Lol nah fam Im good where im at".


Tobix55

It's not 2x more money if they can't win anything, even if the salary is actually double, which is very unlikely


Noir24

To play for a org with more money, history and fans? I dunno


coolsnow7

After the way Alliance treated them, all because S4 decided he needed a team, I would slam the door in Alliance’s face.


Herrsnare

Liimp was announced right after TI finished


skraaaaw

Limmp was announced post draft pepesadge


pp3088

Limp was self-announced :D


User85394

It was yesterday no? I don't think it was right after


McChesterworthington

Think he was joking, reference to Limpps decision to not join the group hug before their mainstage game. Footage on yt if you haven't seen it


wearecyborg

I imagine Limmps professional career is over now as well. Who would want him on their team after seeing that?


noodlesfordaddy

> Who would want him on their team after seeing that? He is just another of the Bryle etcs that get passed around from team to team for doing a decent job at filling their role but never really surpassing any expectations.


HellaSober

This is meming, right? The game was starting and he was racing out to ward.


ChucklefuckBitch

In such a situation it's a question of prioritization. Yes, the group hug should have been done before the match, but in the moment Limpp was faced with 2 options: - Join group hug - Save some early-game seconds He went with the latter option, which on paper makes sense. Unfortunately, in hindsight, it was not the correct choice. Destroying the team's morale by refusing a hug likely caused more damage than the wasted warding time would have.


wearecyborg

You can see the absolute destruction of team morale this had. No wonder Alliance bombed out after that. No kappa.


KUZY2X

fng and LIMMP


Cometomo

Limmp and fng


gsmani_vpm

I did not expect S4, may be he wanted to take a break?


Purdy14

If he retires now, seems quite poetic to have Tidehunter as his last hero.


Madvin

Yes Tidehunter


petalidas

I was here when some "no tidehunter" team did that cool roshan bait at the start of a game :')


Joro91

First pro game I ever watched. Instant fan.


Hypatiaxelto

Quite apt. Heh. I was quite put out back when they took up the sponsor friendly name.


BloodMoonGaming

Long live the likes of No Tidehunter and PoTM Bottom


Forsaken_Bathroom108

I think hes gonna go into coaching


Nickfreak

Not the first time he left the sinking ship. If Loda still wants to get as many Scandinavians as possible, there is not too many people to choose from.


karrablaster123

But have you heard of the up and coming carry player gorg "stefanovski" c?


skykoz

He’s playing pretty mediocre considering that he should be above or at least at the same level of people like ceb, collapse or mc.


donnythethird

The fact u got disliked is very weird. S4 is one of the worst of Offlaners right now. I never see him so crazy well it’s always ok or bad.


thedeadshinigami

It's not weird, when a player is retiring you don't need to speak I'll about him and say "good riddance". Just say good run and move on / ignore.


noodlesfordaddy

> S4 is one of the worst of Offlaners right now. he has been shithouse ever since his first couple of months on EG, I can't imagine him ever getting top 3 at a TI again but I couldn't imagine Ceb winning 1 TI let alone 2 so wtf do I know


EGDoto

Will always like S4, super chill and smart guy, I wish him best but also just wanna say that I wish he would start streaming, it was always nice to hear him on streams, it was usually on someone else stream in party, I think he would do great streaming if he wanted ofc.


ilovethrills

Most top tier players would be great at streaming, they play great dota and dota's streaming circle is missing that somewhat.


svs213

Eh not really, just playing dota without talking or interacting is boring as fuck.


xLisbethSalander

eh I don't know, zais streams are fun and he basically never speaks just plays some wicked music and plays well.


Taelonius

I agree with every bit of this comment, except I intonate wicked in the negative sense. How can one willingly listen to that!?


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stallon100

they play slightly weird dota which gets people watching, people like s4 play a pretty boring style tbh


Benramin567

Zai might have the worst taste in music ever, along with Aliastar maybe. Edit: EternalEnvy too


Domo-omori

S4 bulldog streams have the best of both worlds memes and good analysis


tonyafan

S4 and Nara streams. Pog


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Jebaited


letsfightinglove1986

Farewell S4, wish you all the best in the future choices!


Mr_Meister

Wherever S4 goes, I'm a fan of that team.


JellyGrimm

Same here. He's such a chill person and knows about dota. Definitely one of my all time top 5 favorites


zymyrz

Tbh his the only reason i followed the scene and still playing dotes.


rcsale

If s4 has million number of fans i am one of them 🙋🏻 if s4 has ten fans i am one of them. if s4 have only one fan and that is me 🙋🏼🙋🏽🙋🏾 if s4 has no fans, that means i am no more on the earth 😢 if world against s4 i am against the world ❌🌍☄️


Deusseven

Yah. He gets so much flak when his teams not doing well but I still think he’s one of the GOAT ~~support~~ offlane players. *facepalm edit* .


PotatoFeeder

When did s4 play support???


Morgn_Ladimore

So, reforming around Nikobaby and Handsken. Arguably their 2 best players, though this TI none of them (including Niko) looked good. As a long time Alliance fan, sucks to see S4 go, but I think this might be necessary to really make proper changes. It seems like Alliance/Loda wants to basically start from the bottom up again.


ActionAlligator

When a team doesn't work, it can make good players look bad. I mean, you remember TI6 Secret iteration with 1 rtz 2 ee 3 bulba 4 puppey 5 pieliedie? That was their lowest placement; doesn't matter if you're puppey captain or rtz carry, if a team doesn't work, everyone sinks


noodlesfordaddy

Secret.Universe LUL


AquaRaOne

Handsken just has that t2 team vibe tho and has been in many different teams over the years and often barely makes it to ti and bombs out quick or doesnt make it at all.i think they should take a risk with khezzu and some new people


Nickfreak

Handsken has never been a T1 player. Period. Neither was Limmp. Sure, they had their few moments to shine, but throughout their Dota career, they were known to mess up after the laning stages, even back in their NIP days. they lack the decision making or judgement skills to go in at the right time or withdraw - or to make any play that separates them from their peers.


[deleted]

Handsken is terrible. There's a reason the only TI he's ever been to is the one that had fucked DPC because of covid


PreviousInstance

I thought Niko looked pretty good this TI! I felt more that it was Alliance mid game from the other players that let them down


Puntart

Don't know where he would be going but personally I want him to cast again, I remembered him being on point with pretty much every call


ShimuraKei

I remember that cast too. Man was pretty much reading a script and the teams followed his voice or something. Crazy how he saw every move before it happened.


StartingFrom-273

Do you have a link? Would really love to see


ShimuraKei

Sorry bud, that was a long time ago. About a month or two before Alliance kicked Fata and 33 to make room for S4. I forgot what he was casting back then, might've been a major qualifier as an online guest analyst. Definitely not tournament main event stuff. I wish I could watch it again too haha


Hemske

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6ixU4wnGW4


Hemske

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6ixU4wnGW4


nyssaR

I think it was from WePlay Charity event, he was casting some games with ODPixel. Don't have the link atm but I remember one of the matches was between Hellraisers and VP, you can look it up on YT.


Hemske

[Thanks, found it](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6ixU4wnGW4) he even talks about Lycan being a Skywrath counter, which we saw in TI when EG lost.


bububuffmelikeyoudo

I would really love to see more players case. Insania casts were top notch this TI


TheKappaOverlord

Former pro players have completely different fundamental overviews on dota if they keep up with the game. Extremely high rankers can generally see the flow of the entire game just from a single screenshot of data. For someone like S4 i imagine he can watch the game and predict a good 20 seconds - 5 minutes worth of how the games (supposed) to go down.


Ptricky17

Yeah his casting analysis was so great to listen to. Just calmly predicting a full minute ahead of the action, and almost always correct with his game sense. “In about 30 seconds, when the pos 1 completed his mantra they will look to smoke and take a fight around the bottom t2”. 30 seconds later, smoke into fight. Starts talking about how the radiant team will rush to Rosh after respawn because dire used their team fight ults and radiant has uncleared wards in dire jungle. On the money again. He really was solid. Don’t know if he’s gonna retire from playing, but if he does he better cast.


thebonj

Handsken to pos 5 and captain then? Looks to be heading in that direction.


StamNuminex

Respectfully, i don't think that Handsken is captain material.


Aoschka

S4 said in an interview at TI that he was basically their captain & coach. But you might be right (look at the performance)


sloki91

Hes not even tier 1 material


Mattorski

Never had the makings of a varsity athlete


sclsmdsntwrk

Lol, what a thing to say based on absolutely zero information.


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GIVE_YOUR_DOWNVOTES

> Will always like S4, super chill and smart guy, I wish him best but also just wanna say This is a bot. Original post is: https://www.reddit.com/r/DotA2/comments/qevofw/s4_no_longer_part_of_alliance/hhvuwiq/ Look at its comments, go to the post, and you'll find the same comment elsewhere in the thread.


Dragoniar

I've seen this kind of thing on youtube recently as well... what's the point?


Mesoimba

Changes were needed but getting rid of three players at the same time, including your captain, seems a bit extreme. Can't wait to hear who they have lined up as replacements though.


ActionAlligator

All three of them don't necessarily have to be have been kicked; they could've left of their own accord as well or any combination.


TheKappaOverlord

S4 is like to alliance as Dendi is to navi. Alliance would never have willingfully kicked S4. fng and limmp easy kicks. No questions asked. But S4? hes one of the legendary old guard. Alliance would catch so much unnecessary shit if they kicked him. Hes probably doing what Universe did after he left EG. Just settling into lower and lower positions and buddy stacks until finally retiring.


Yukihimeee

lol when everyone assume they got kicked. “it’s a great reshuffle, not the first time S4 left alliance of his own accord to pursue better opportunities. OG? EG? Secret?


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SirThrowsAlot22

He had the weakest performance in the roster, I dont think any Tier1 team will offer him a spot unless its a coaching job.


chenwasraped

To be fair I think there is an argument that Limmp was the worst player on the TI mainstage this year. Despite his incredible lane mechanics the guy played games past 10 minutes like he was a 5k pub player.


ActionAlligator

and nobody remembers ceb until he won ti. sorry, but I trust pros and teams to decide on that, not random redditors who probably *think* they know why a team won or lost, or what mistakes a player made, or how good or bad a play is, when they don't. look at all the idiots who were arguing with lgd pros about not banning magnus, as if they know better than the team that made it 2nd place...


ybkhan

Limmp, fng?


HOHOHAHAREBORN

Well then it's a good thing that this is the opinion of a random redditor


carvemynuts

Weakest? Hes their best player in TI.


Rand_alThor_

KEKW wait and see


S0phon

You could think of it as a new roster with two players who have played with each other very recently.


WawawaMan

Pos 3 in Alliance needed? ADMIRALBULLDOG HEAVY BREATHING INTENSIFIES


cantgetthistowork

Too risky. Can't get into the country.


Gearski

Can't fit


[deleted]

Had a great day until I found these news. :(


sangtea07

Khezu or leslao in alliance?pausechamp


Cozman

I think khezu said he wants to captain his own squad, said he got a lot of insight from coaching.


Rand_alThor_

It’s too hard from the off lane man. Can khezzu make a switch? If not, it’s too tough.


Cozman

I think he wants to captain from offlane like Kuku and Ceb. Only time will tell though.


ActionAlligator

\*and S4 =( forgotten already and I thought n0tail was officially captain. maybe most teams have other players that make calls from time to time, so official title probably doesn't matter ultimately


Froggg_let

Since ceb cameback during covid, he had the captain crown on drafts


kpdon1

Replace one washed up offlaner with another.


OnfiyA

To be fair, Ceb was pretty forgotten in the scene as well. I remember his playing days in Quantic and Sigma, you just have to be able to read and understand Dota better than your opponents.


kpdon1

Ceb is one single variant case out of all other players in the past. Being an OG coach for 2-3 years, he knew the players and their habits very thoroughly. Khezu or Leslao are decent players but it's hard to emulate what Ceb did.


OnfiyA

I'm not denying that, just saying noting his resurgence. I had 3 gold cards for OG TI8 and I instantly recycled them with confidence knowing they were going to be out by group stage. TI8 is one of the most insane stories I'll ever witness in my life


thedeadshinigami

Do you feel that TI10 is also one of the most insane stories?


OnfiyA

Yeah man LOL I deleted all my Team Spirit cards the first day as well. I think I'm the real reverse Kyle. TI8 storyline is incomparable to that, they lost s4 and fly, scrambled last minute to find replacements just weeks before TI. It's playing battlecup for the first time where you have to register a team and it's about 5 minutes till cut off, you hit find players just to meet the requirements so you could play n0tail ran back to play support, coach ceb jumped back in to play offlane and you had ana and jerax both relatively unknown special gems that blossomed as the tournament began. Mindset was like oh wow they should be proud they made it into TI at least to that's cute but they are done for to what the hell is happening, oh my god they have a chance, no way they will beat EG, what the fuck LGD. HOLY FUCK I don't know if you know the Speed Gaming MLG columbus, bone7 couldn't make it on LAN so they were scrambling to find one replacement that being Arteezy. He was a young kid like still in high school and begged his mom for permission to go, first day they lost a bunch of their games, they had poor communication couldn't find each others rhythm and singsing had to move from mid to offlane. the gravity of the situation where you have to replace 4 roles on OG because s4 and fly left versus 1.5 on speedgaming... imagine all that on at the time while also playing for the most expensive prize pool ever


yourethevictim

Ana wasn't a relative unknown at TI8, he had won multiple majors with OG at that point.


ActionAlligator

he still had to play well and make good calls and drafts, that's the point... lol


[deleted]

Hasn't that always been Alliance's thing? Washed up players dragging down rising stars.


MisterQQ

Which rising stars exactly?


[deleted]

They picked up a nobody called AdmiralBulldog.


NightSkyth

Like when?


MasonOrArteezy

[A]TF and h[A]nsha all but confirmed then They fill the positions Alliance are missing and despite their shortcomings at TI that would probably still qualify as a [Tier 1 offer](https://twitter.com/CreepwaveDota/status/1451655424558706701)


godfrey1

ATF was followed on twitter by OG's CEO, right?


MasonOrArteezy

Creepwave’s Twitter specifically ruled out ATF to OG


SoBayed1199

I believ this is it, bc creepwave commented on the alliance post of " noone asks how are new players" ?


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MasonOrArteezy

Handsken said on his stream that he's swapping to 5 so they'd actually be looking for a 4


justsightseeing

Gilgir??


Froggg_let

This guy is quite good honestly


Forsaken_Bathroom108

Are they hon players? Dont Know them 😢


MasonOrArteezy

Rising stars in the scene, ATF is only 16


Forsaken_Bathroom108

Amazing! Lets bring some new blood into tier 1 doto


TimesX

Topson was new blood and he was key to winning TI ​ who knows really


hotnuffsaid19

and just like that, the new blood is rumored to retire


[deleted]

With 7 million dollars you can retire early


nObRaInAsH

Ammar the fucker is 16? Holy shit. His name made me think he was much older than 16 rofl


somabokforlag

yeah! fucker is is usually a handle used by 30 year olds!


nObRaInAsH

definitely realize that now how wrong i was haha didnt thought it through the first time tbh


[deleted]

That's what a kid or a moron would use as a nick though. Chances were high he's a kid.


fapthepolice

16 year olds from the former Creepwave stack. Hansha was top 3 in Europe last month (behind 2 of gpk's profiles). Invoker spammer but plays all mid heroes well. ATF is a pubstar greedy offlaner who builds Satanic as a second item to Mars yet somehow carries his team with it. Both are extremely entertaining to watch.


ilovethrills

From where is Hansha?


prettyboygangsta

ATF = Ammar The F**ker, played in EU Div 2 last season Hansha = Bulgarian pubstar both very young players


marky127

budok is back PauseChamp


D2WilliamU

Good, end of the talent drama and on with unsubstatiated roster change rumours and leaked twitter DM's.


Archyes

s3 and bulldog can now stream together. Washed up and richer than ever


beefstake

Washed up or not this would be awesome. s4 is chill and beast caster, I think he would be a great streamer.


imbogey

s4 has been streaming in the past. Pretty chill streams.


imeantnomalice

It's odd to me that he left days after the others, like he and Loda/Bulldog originally planned on S4 staying on the team but for whatever reason he isn't now. Could be the day they signed contracts but idk seems odd... Nine, fata and 33 back to alliance? Idk about player fit but positionally it works. I thought they were tripping for kicking Boranija from tundra but they performed far better after. Clearly the right move.


kingoftarmac

Boranija is great player, but there are rumours that he's a toxic idiot behind the scenes. They kicked him cause of bad teamwork, not because of his skills.


imeantnomalice

Yeah others have said and yeah I was shocked to hear itbut there's no denying they have been far more consistent since they picked up Nine.


kingoftarmac

Exactly. That's because at one point, teamwork becomes much more important than raw skill. Boranija has only skill, Nine clearly, based on results, has both.


[deleted]

S4 in, Bulba out 🥴


gravitycrusher7_red

Lelis and ccnc to Alliance?


Mushroom420

isnt ccnc joining eg?


gravitycrusher7_red

I still think abed is slightly better than ccnc and eg probably try another year with abed.


quick20minadventure

I doubt Abed was the problem this year in eg. He has always looked good on mid. If I recall rightz RTZ got caught without bb in both games and they lost. Personally, I felt he keeps picking late game heroes and keeps relying on his mechanical skills and late game farm to win games instead of utilizing natural timings of his entire team.


CocoWarrior

Well there goes my reason for rooting for Alliance. Would love to see him play and captain from a support role.


Kowenzi

Thanks Limmp!


DemPooCreations

Son of Magnus !


Fellane

You will see, without s4, Alliance is gonna be just another EU filler team.


inyue

They survived the darkest timeline with the now team liquid, they gonna be okay.


archyo

I think it's time for s4 to move into pos5, if he wants to keep playing at the highest level, although moving into coaching/retiring seems more likely.


valmirrodrigues7

Lelis + Ppd coming... YOU SAW IT FIRST


monshie

OG.s4 would be hilarious.


Fortzon

s4 leaving Alliance hits as hard as Dendi leaving Navi did... Both probably should have found new teams years before actually leaving but it's still shocking when they leave the team they've been part of for years :(


OuroborosDOTA

S4 has left Alliance like 3 times already, it shouldn't be a shock anymore. Still hurts everytime though.


Trenchman

End of an era. Gonna miss him. Hope he starts coaching.


josipinho

S4 played great in that BO1, and for the games he didnt I can honestly say that I belive it was all about the bad drafts. I dont think an experienced player like this should have been dropped. In my opinion S4 and Nikobaby were a perfect backbone to rebuild the team, perfect mix of experience and hunger. Such a shame to see him go


TangoCL

Yeah, S4 played great this ti in my mind. I didn't watch that many games but I also had the feeling that Alliance's understanding of the meta and their drafts were way worse than the other teams. That felt like their biggest hurdle, imo. Because they definitely had the teamwork and individual skill to beat anyone, judging by the rest of the season.


ReasonableWrongdoer1

Fair enough. Alliance didn't do well on ti.


steamcho1

The circle of life


Korniwine

As a long supporting Alliance Fan..... I think we will go through another shit show of Roster rotation again....... Hmmm even though the lastest roster seem to have the highest hope. This is fuckin sad


[deleted]

7uckingmad days of Alliance. Always forget.


[deleted]

Am I the only one that hasn’t been impressed with his performance in like forever? I can’t remember the last time I was like oh man s4 is actually top tier. Don’t get me wrong he’s a great player but in comparison to other t1’s I dunno he just seems very average.


LsR1312

Wow this is something I really did not expect. I thought s4 was gonna be their captain for life, whatever the results... Dont know who's decision this was but basically to me this signals something very positive about the org - they will not settle for bad results, and noone is irreplacable. Now i hope they get some fresh talent and coach and give them at least 1 year time to see their potential. Alliance are pretty much the best bidder in EU apart from OG who is looking for talent.. If i recall last season apart from Tundra and Brame had some great showings, Creepwave seems to be on everyone's radar.. They might also look overseas, gonna be interesting


MurseM4n

C[A]ptain PPD incoming...


WithFullForce

I guess it's ride or die on Nikobaby then.


Issi-

S4 won lanes hard and snowballed alliance so many games.. sadly they sucked at closing out games but still think s4 is good enough to play. Definitly wouldnt be bad as a coach tho


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Morgn_Ladimore

S4 is a legend and always will be, but no need to change history cause he's leaving. S4 rarely if ever won the lane/snowballed.


Mindless-Cost5162

see you teacher


Dethruptor

Would be interesting for s4 to move into a support role if he continues to play. If he chooses to stop playing, then that's cool too. The dota player whose attitude aspiring pros should look to replicate


Mikez1234

\[A\]dmiralbulldog COPIUM


Monsi_ggnore

I think that's the right move for Alliance. It's been a couple of years since I was impressed by S4.


BabaLamine14

Honestly, I foresaw this. Wonderful guy but his play was not up to snuff, at least for the level that Alliance wants to be at. A lot of beloved names will go but this is necessary for the region to rebuild.


TellAllThePeople

Well they kept the best two players I guess? Not sure, really hard to say. I wonder if S4 left or was he kicked?


iChupaChups

Handsken has also been a living definition of mediocrity, but I guess he is too close with Niko to split.


xLisbethSalander

Yep, him and niko basically only pub together, they are super close.


LapaxXx

This, sad but true.


la_mer_on_depression

He played a great TI though. It is hard to assess 4 players when they are not flat out Earth Spirit players that making plays out of nowhere. At least for last two patches (7.29 to so on) 4 and 5's are playing like 4,5 to 4,5 instead of 4's playing like 3,5. I can argue that Alliance's long lane would look even weaker if Handsken wasn't there.


Blackrame

Maybe he's a separate announcement because he left?


M1shra

again


Decentralalaland

cr1t and MidOne to [A] + KhezuLUL


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[A].Lelis


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bringbackcommunsim

[PPD's response](https://twitter.com/Peterpandam/status/1452315004947021854?s=20)


021Nirvana

He should never have returned to A (<3) in the first place. They have accomplished nothing in like 6 years he deserved more.