It's become a tradition in EU: after every regional event, teams undergo significant roster changes.
Fans of Heroes of the Storm esports have become so conditioned to this happening that they prepare themselves for the worst everytime a Twit Longer appears that remotely could have something to do with roster changes. Team Dignitas first took the opportunity for laughs after the Summer championships, much to the relief of nervous Heroes esports fans.
But why do teams actually make roster changes?
There are many possible reasons:
- They feel that a player is significantly underperforming,
- They think they can replace a player with a player they perceive to be better
- Too much internal friction (fighting over gameplay style or problems working with each other)
- Pressure to earn a strong tournament placement.
While the reasoning for them may be sound, a lot of them don't wind up working out as team performance doesn't necessarily improve as desired, resulting in further roster changes. But team synergy matters - most of the teams that have had the most success in 2016 have not undergone significant roster changes:
- MVP Black only swapped in Rich for Lockdown since he wanted to play with his brother.
- Tempest have not had any changes since the roster's creation
- eStar gaming had the same roster since 2015 before xiaoT and NccCc retired after the Summer Championships.
- mYinsanity has had the same roster since January.
Dignitas making a point
Dignitas got the ball rolling once again with this tweet. Maybe their big tournament win inspired some satire.
mYinsanity's Roster Change "Announcement"
But mYinsanity wasn't about to let them have all the fun:
In case you don't understand, the two players were to be replaced by their smurfs, so no roster changes actually happened.
Wolf was very pleased with this development - pity it only apparently lasted two hours.
Cris throws everyone a curveball
Still, this was pretty tame stuff. So just 2 hours afterward, Cris made sure to drop what appeared to be a bombshell. Cris and Shad leaving Team Liquid. Nurok and Darkmok of mYinsanity picked up by Team Liquid to replace them. Could the Rosterpocalypse be real after all?
Luckily for everyone, it turned out just to be the final chapter of one, very elaborate joke.
Jokes like these are entertaining, but there is always a grain of truth in humour. Roster changes in heroes has been a hot topic for a while now and, just recently a thoughtful post on reddit brought up some points that attempted to explain why some changes work and why some don't. "The case for system players" makes sense in a physical sports environment, but does it work for eSports?
Maybe. Team Liquid used to be one of the best teams in the world and their "system" was built around methodical drafts, unique specialist heroes and grindy, safe strategies. This system was developed by Vortix and Lucifron and through numerous roster changes this system has almost completely vanished. Is it no surprise the team fell from their dominant position at a slow, but consistent rate?
The team has since found a new style of play and I think it works for them. However, maybe the months of growing pains could of been avoided. The current Team Liquid doesn't look like they will have any roster changes soon and for now they can comfortably join the rest of EU poking fun at roster drama.
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