Alliance return to the top Division of Western European Dota 2 after a season of growth and development.
Alliance will return to Division 1 of the Western European DPC league after just five weeks of play. Alliance, who are currently celebrating their ninth anniversary, stamped their ticket back to the premier league of WEU Dota 2 after defeating Chicken Fighters on the morning of April 16th.
With the win, Alliance is locked in to the second place of Division 2, behind Divisional champions goonsquad. Goonsquad's defeat of Alliance in Week 3 secured their top spot. In many ways, this means the entirety of Alliances' former roster will make their way back to Division 1—Goonsquad's Simon "Handsken" Rasmus Haag and Linus "Limmp" Blomdin were both formally part of Alliance.
Hard work pays off for Alliance
While it was perhaps a foregone conclusion that Alliance would return to Div 1, that shouldn't take away from the team's efforts. It takes a lot to get knocked down and not split as a unit. It's a testament to players like Nikolay "Nikobaby" Nikolov and Aliwi "w33" Omar, veterans who could have easily gone looking for greener pastures when the team got relegated. Instead, they stuck it out with the green of Alliance and brought their team to the top tier of Dota 2.
Nikobaby specifically called out Alliance co-founder, CEO, and current coach of the team Jonathan "Loda" Berg in a tweet celebrating the win. Berg returned to the coaching position of Alliance this past split. Loda has always thrived with the hands-on approach, and coaching the team to a promotion is a perfect example.
Beyond the team's veteran core, it's the newcomers who've really paid their dues with this win, though. Moiez "symetricaL" Lin weighed in his own tweet. "Improving everyday as a person and a Dota player and very glad to be in this team." wrote sym, who joined the team alongside Nikolay "CTOMAHEH1" Kalchev, and w33 for this season. This will be sym's first taste of Div 1 Dota.
Alliance head to a strange new Division 1
With Alliance promoted, Nigma Galaxy, and either Brame or Entity headed back down, the face of Division 1 has changed even more. It's almost something unrecognizable. It will be strange to see a DPC WEU without Nigma in the lineup. Almost as odd as seeing Alliance fall last season, and Secret struggle this time.
It feels like the WEU region has never been more competitive. One of the best regions in Dota now has one of its iconic names returning to its highest league. While the season may not be over, but there's already huge anticipation for Tour 3.