It has been over four months since the last time DotA Shuffle news came around. It has been far too long with too much that has happened over the past months to ignore. Over the last few months, some of DotA's top teams disbanded, while some of them have found new sponsors and, of course, players are always on the move. With all of this going on, it is time to do the DotA Shuffle.

What is the DotA Shuffle? The DotA Shuffle was originated to tell the community what exactly is going on with the different teams. Though much of the news was once told, consider this a recap.

North America

Team Excello

The Canadian power house, team Excello (xLo) disbanded after their absence at the Chicago LAN, Fire in Ice. Team Excello has been around since CAL season 1, though they changed sponsors often, they generally kept the same roster.

When the team disbanded, AMXZaku stated, "We want to let everyone know that Excello DotA has officially disbanded. For a while me and mO- have been annoyed because we felt like we were the only ones on the team putting in any time or effort. Our team failing to go to Chicago was the last straw so me and mO- have decided to disband the team."

xLo.mO- joined up with team Xero Skill after Excello broke up. Eddie joined the South Korean/Canadian team, eXtreme-Dota Team (xDT). You may remember xDT from the CAL-O season 3 championship, where they went to defeat team v3 to claim the top place; they now mainly play in Asian leagues (such as ADC and the upcoming WCG Asia). Adding Eddie to their roster will give xDT a strong solo player with experience at DotA's top level.

Zaku
mO-
j0o
chu
eddie
husssaler

Team Pandemic

North America's Team Pandemic reunited after an extended break from competitive play. Team Pandemic dominated the American DotA scene before their break, as they took first place in CEVO's only DotA tournament, after a grueling match against team Complexity, claiming 750$ cash prize. While TPD may be missing some of their former starters, Wedge joined team Q, and Swissbeatz was removed because of disagreements, TPD still has a solid core in Miraclechipmunk, DayjunGenie, Fachh and Yoshi; Yoshi and Fachh recently returned to competitive play.

While TPD has a long way to go to achieve their former greatness, they already have experienced moderate success in claiming a 1,000$ third place prize at the Chicago LAN, Fire in Ice. The_Tree_Eskimo has played on TPD's B team and hopes to make it into their starting rotation after a solid performance at the LAN. It is going to be hard for TPD to fill in the gaps of Swiss and Wedge, but their future looks bright. With Fachh as team leader again they may be able to climb their way back to the top. On a side note, AMXZaku is rumored to be joining up with TPD but nothing is official yet.

DijonGenie[P]
Fachh[P]
OwnaGe-JuiCe[P]
Protoss[P]
Miraclechipmunk[P]
Yoshi[P]
Eskimo[P]

eMazing Gaming

eMazing Gaming (eMg) has emerged as America's top team after clinching 3rd place in the MYM Pride 7 tournament. Much of their success is credited to their roster additions of Rwar, Hit0mi, and Remstar. Since the addition of these three players, eMg placed 3rd in MYM Pride 7, made the playoff stage in MYM Pride 8, and placed second in Fire in Ice. Even team leader, eMg.King, credits his teams recent success to the new players, "I think the results of recent tournaments can speak for themselves in regards to how our new additions have been working."

But for these new additions eMg lost many of their players. eMg.Naz was not able to balance school and DotA and left the team. eMg.Metro wanted a break from DotA and wanted to play with his Argentinian team. eMg.York went inactive after making his way into eMg's starting rotation. eMg has gone through numerous changes in the past six months but they have still remained one of the top teams in the world.

eMg.Andre
eMg.Rwar
eMg.King
eMg.DOGKAISER
eMg.Remstar
eMg.Whisper
eMg.Muffins