In order to be eligible for signing up for the 2016 Fall Major teams are now given by Valve a six weeks window to assemble their new rosters. The post TI shuffle will be done in two phases: drop period and invitation period.
Starting after TI 6 until 4th of September all teams are allowed to free any of their players. After that, any players who remain with the team cannot be removed. The second phase, “Invitation period” will last from 4th to 18th of September, time, during which, team managers can invite any player that’s not locked with another roster to their squad. In case someone changes their mind, players that have been dropped in the first phase can also be “re - invited” to the team they were part of.
A new rule for this roster lock is also set for the substitutes. After seeing the struggle of securing substitutes during the past three roster locks, Valve drops the mandatory substitute role idea and instead allows teams to invite one substitute at their choice for the upcoming Major, but only after the qualifiers are over. Which means that all the teams will now be able to sign up on the 2016 Fall Major registration list without any substitute, but will be allowed to lock in one after they qualified for the said Major.
The new rosters will become locked on 18th 12:00AM PDT, and will remain so until after the Fall Major. Any team that fails to respect the new roster lock rule will no longer be eligible to receive a direct invitation to either the Major or the Regional Qualifiers, but may still register and participate in the Open Qualifiers.
source: blog.dota2.com
