Alliance Dota 2: treating players like cargo, a mid-year report

Alliance has been in a slump for about 18 months. I attribute this slump to continuous player movement. I understand the strategy they have in place; however, I disagree with the tactics Alliance uses because they’ve had nothing but negative results for an extended period.

Treating players like cargo, shipping them off when unneeded, is done across nearly all industries in the business world. To enable success, it must be done right. Here’s an overview of Alliance throughout 2017.

Treating players like cargo: is it better to keep one squad long term?

Let’s take a look at how Alliance has been doing since the start of January 2017. Keep in mind, Alliance replaced two players since January. Pablo joined May 23rd, and Era joined June 9th.

The World Electronic Sports Games 2016 ended in mid January 2017. 3rd Place earned Alliance $200,000. Infamous Gaming, TI7 attendee, lost 2-1 in the 3rd Place match.

Alliance earned 3-4th Place again in February at Elimination Mode 3.0. OG advanced to the finals after winner 2-0. The loss earned Alliance $2,500.

March through May was filled with failed qualifiers. Alliance played in five qualifiers: the Kiev Major, two for ZOTAC Cup Masters, EPICENTER 2017, and Summit 7. Even the Lootbet Invitational (played with Pablo) went south. Prodota Gaming defeated Alliance 2-0.

Alliance had a shot at making it to TI7. Winning The International 2017: Europe Champion Qualifier sent Alliance to the actual TI7 Europe Qualifier, but Alliance didn’t impress enough. A 3-6 record earned Alliance 8th Place.

TI7 update: Team Secret finished first, earning the first European slot. After a run through the losers’ bracket, Planet Dog defeated mousesports in the grand finals by three games to one for the second EU slot.

What would you do in their position? Do you see consistent player movement as treating players like cargo? Is it a good or bad strategy?

Find me on Twitter. Share your thoughts. Disagree? Agree? #LetsTalkDota has daily topics to tweet about. Connect with the author.