Dota 2 shuffle mania 2025-2026: A complete guide to all major roster changes

With The International 2025 behind us and a new competitive season already knocking at the door, the teams are once again tinkering with their rosters in search of a perfect formula.

Historically, the post-TI shuffle has been the most dramatic, and this year seems to be no exception, even though some of the biggest teams are yet to officially announce their moves.

PARIVISION are the exception that proves the rule. Coming home from TI 2025 with a third-place finish, they were one of the first teams to confirm that, moving into the next season, there will be no roster changes. At the opposite pole, Gaimin Gladiators, who put their players in the impossibility of competing at The International 2025, have already lost Quinn “Quinn” Callahan, who called it quits and hung up the mouse for good. Additionally, the team coach, Aske “Cy-” Larsen, has also left and is currently working with Natus Vincere. While we await further news from the Gladiators camp, here are all the confirmed major roster changes for the 2025-2026 competitive season.

Team Liquid

Aydin "Insania" Sarkohi, the legendary captain, hard support, and The International champion with Team Liquid, has officially announced his retirement from professional play, closing the book on a storied career that spanned over a decade.

Insania’s decision to hang the mouse for good was announced by Team Liquid via their social media channels and confirms what many in the scene had anticipated. At 31 years, Insania was the oldest active player at The International 2025, a veteran whose career arc is one of perseverance, loyalty, and ultimate triumph.

Team Liquid current roster

• Michael "miCKe" Vu
• Michał "Nisha" Jankowski
• ???
• Samuel "Boxi" Svahn
• ???

Vici Gaming

In a post made via the organisations Weibo account, VG announced their return. After a two-year hiatus, a new team forms under the banner, already with high hopes in 2025. While the team is very different from their attempted TI 2025 qualifier roster, it does keep the position 5 support player Ding “Dy” Cong on board.

Vici Gaming roster

• Lou “Lou” Zhen
• Guo “Xm” Hongcheng
• Chung Wei “Ws” Shen
• Xiong “Pyw” Jiahan
• Ding “Dy” Cong
• Coach: Wang “Maps” Yutian

Wildcard

With an amazing win over Shopify Rebellion, Wildcard managed to take their new roster into TI 2025. However, even with a direct invite to PGL Wallachia Season 6 and qualifying for DreamLeague Season 27, the organisation announced that the full roster would be released. Added to this would be the recent retirement of coach, Ionut "BliNcc" Musat, which sees the roster revert back to Apex Genesis.

Apex Genesis roster

• Luke "Yamsun" Wang
• Francis "RCY" Fundemera
• Victor "Fayde" Zuev
• Danil "Bignum" Shekhovtsov
• Paul "Speeed" Bocchicchio

Xtreme Gaming

After coming back home from The International with a second-place finish for the third time in his career, Wang "Ame" Chunyu is reuniting with old friends to start the pursuit for next year’s Aegis of Champions. In a rather unexpected turn of events, Xtreme waved goodbye to Zhao "XinQ" Zixing and Guo "Xm" Hongcheng, who have been on the roster for the past two years and have been a key factor in the team’s success at TI 2025.

Xtreme Gaming roster

• Wang "Ame" Chunyu
• Cheng "NothingToSay" Jin Xiang
• Lin "Xxs" Jing
• Xu "fy" Linsen
• Yap "xNova" Jian Wei
• Coach: Zhang "xiao8" Ning

Tundra Esports

Tundra were one of the first teams to announce changes to their roster after TI 2025 moving Remco "Crystallis" Arets and Martin "Saksa" Sazdov to the bench. Soon after their announcement, Crystallis went on loan to MOUZ and about a week later, Tundra welcomed aboard Matthew “Ari” Walker as their new soft support player.

Tundra Esports roster

• ???
• Bozhidar "bzm" Bogdanov
• Neta "33" Shapira
• Matthew “Ari” Walker
• Matthew "Whitemon" Filemon

BetBoom Team

TI 2025 brought the best result for the BetBoom Team in the organisation’s history. Yet, a top 4 finish and a few direct invites to the first tournaments of the new season didn’t spare them from going through roster changes. The team’s carry player, Ivan "Pure" Moskalenko, along with coach Anatoly "boolk" Ivanov, have been moved to an inactive status and were thanked for their time spent under the BetBoom Team banner.

A short few days after releasing two members, BB Team confirmed the addition of Ilya "Kiritych" Ulyanov and Roman "rmN-" Paley to their roster, getting them tournament ready for FISSURE PLAYGROUND 2.

BetBoom Team roster

• Ilya "Kiritych" Ulyanov
• Danil "gpk" Skutin
• Matvey "MieRo" Vasyunin
• Vitalie "Save-" Melnic
• Vladislav "Kataomi`" Semenov
• coach: Roman "rmN-" Paley

HEROIC

Only two South American teams have ever secured a top 6 placement at The International. Thunder Awaken were first to carry the SA flag into the main event in 2022, and this year, at TI 2025, HEROIC became the second team to make the region proud at the pinnacle Dota 2 tournament. However, in the aftermath of the event, HEROIC still made a few significant changes to their roster, including parting ways with their mid lane player, Gabriel "4nalog" Santos, and having Adrián "Wisper" Dobles switch from offlane to mid lane for the first time in his career.

HEROIC roster

• Yuma "Yuma" Langlet
• Adrián "Wisper" Dobles
• Cedric "Davai Lama" Deckmyn
• Elvis "Scofield" Peña
• Matheus "KJ" Santos Jungles Diniz
• coach: Igor "kaffs" Estevão

Read more: Wisper switches to mid lane, Davai Lama returns to HEROIC

Virtus.pro

Virtus.pro are determined to make a splash in the 2025-2026 season and will compete with a truly international line-up to compete in Western Europe.

Virtus.pro roster

• Enzo "Timado" Gianoli
• Abed "Abed" Yusop
• Nikita "Daxak" Kuzmin
• Vladislav "Antares" Kertman
• Tal "Fly" Aizik
• coach: Kanishka "BuLba" Sosale

AVULUS

AVULUS are entering the new season with four new players joining their ranks, including Team Liquid’s offlaner, Jonáš "SabeRLight-" Volek, who is playing with them on a loan agreement.

AVULUS roster

• Aliaksei "Smiling Knight" Svirydau
• Artem "lorenof" Melnyk
• Jonáš "SabeRLight-" Volek
• Marcel "Ekki" Hołowienko
• Dmitry "JANTER" Nikulin

OG

It’s been a tough year for OG, who had to deal with both financial uncertainty and maintain a competitive roster. They struggled with both aspects, but the double TI champions are not throwing in the towel just yet. They parted ways with Ivan "Kidaro" Bondarev and Daniel "Stormstormer" Schoetzau and welcomed aboard two new players to kick off the qualifier campaign for the new season.

OG roster

• Indji "Shad" Lub
• Igor "Stojkov" Stojkov (trial)
• Mihajlo "MikSa`" Jovanovic
• Tamir "daze" Tokpanov
• Rodrigo "Lelis" Santos
• Coach: Johan "N0tail" Sundstein

MOUZ

After missing the opportunity to play at TI 2025 in front of their home crowd, MOUZ are building a new roster for the new season with quite a few prominent names joining their ranks.

MOUZ roster

• Remco "Crystallis" Arets (on loan)
• Yeik "MidOne" Nai Zheng
• Miroslav "BOOM" Bičan
• Daniyal "yamich" Lazebnyy
• Melchior "Seleri" Hillenkamp
• Coach: Daniel "ImmortalFaith" Moza

Team Nemesis

Coming from TI 2025 as the only team to have lost all the group stage matches, Nemesis benched their captain, James "Erice" Guerra, and took Pang "ponyo" Sze Xuan on a trial basis. The team has already played a few qualifier legs for the first events of the new season and fell short of a spot at DreamLeague Season 27 and BLAST Slam IV.

Team Nemesis roster

• Eljohn "Akashi" Andales
• Mc "Mac" Villanueva
• Polo "Raven" Fausto
• John "Jing" Duyan
• Pang "ponyo" Sze Xuan (trial)

Talon Esports

For Talon esports, the previous season was a complete disaster. The team failed to qualify for TI 2025 and had subpar performances throughout the year. Moving now into the new season, Talon welcomed back Nuengnara "23savage" Teeramahanon, who was on loan at OG. Worawit "Q" Mekchai and Chan "Oli" Chon Kien have also returned to Talon on September 26 after spending the past two years with other teams. So far, Talon have received a direct invite to BLAST Slam IV as host region representatives.

Talon Esports roster

• Nuengnara "23savage" Teeramahanon
• Rafli "Mikoto" Fathur Rahman
• Chung "Ws" Wei Shen
• Worawit "Q" Mekchai
• Chan "Oli" Chon Kien