s4 rejoins Alliance after splitting from Evil Geniuses

Steven Rondina Published 01/04/2020

Alliance surprised fans by announcing changes to its Dota 2 roster earlier this week, and the organization’s new plans are becoming more clear.

The organization announced the acquisition of Gustav “s4” Magnusson. s4 returns to action following several months on Evil Geniuses’ bench.

“Hey guys! Excited to play some Dota again since it’s been a while for me. Looking forward to make some new friends in the team and show everyone great games. Thank you to Alliance for giving me a shot at this. Sorry to everyone that has been waiting for so long, but also thank you to all that have been patiently waiting for my return,” s4 said in a statement published on Alliance’s website.

Alliance fans are well familiar with s4. The Swedish player was a member of the No Tidehunter team that became Alliance’s inaugural roster. The team had a strong debut season that culminated with Alliance winning The International 2013.

The following season was also good, but ended in disappointing fashion. This prompted s4 to leave after The International 2014 to join Team Secret. He returned to Alliance once again in 2015, reuniting with the former championship roster. That team had some strong performances, but couldn’t recapture their previous magic.

He joined OG in 2016 and enjoyed strong success, including two major titles. From there he joined Evil Geniuses in 2018, placing third at The International 2018 and enjoying a solid 2018-2019 Dota Pro Circuit season.

Following The International 2019, s4 and Syed “SumaiL” Hassan were placed on Evil Geniuses’ bench. This left the pair in limbo for months with no clear explanation as to what would come next.

s4 rejoins Alliance at a strange time

Though s4 was bumped from Evil Geniuses’ lineup, he remains an exceptionally skilled player. The organization never gave an exact reason for removing him in favor of former Virtus.pro player Roman “RAMZES666” Kushnarev, but it wasn’t entirely due to his performance as he remained strong all the way through the end of his time with EG.

s4 remains a strong pro player and should be an able addition to Alliance. Whether the team ends up improving as a result is the big question.

Alliance was already doing quite well during the season, posting strong placements in a number of events including reaching the top four of the DreamLeague Season 13 major. This had them in the top six of the Dota Pro Circuit standings, which positioned them for a spot at The International 2020.

Despite this, the organization surprised fans by announcing the releases of two of its players.It is unclear if the modified team will have the same chemistry it did to this point of the season.

Alliance’s roster currently stands as follows:

Nikolay “Nikobaby” Nikolov
Linus “Limmp” Blomdin
Gustav “s4” Magnusson
Simon “Handsken” Haag

The team still has one vacant spot on its roster, which should be filled in the near future.

Steven Rondina

About Steven Rondina

Steven Rondina is a true lifelong gamer. His earliest memories are of playing video games, and he has continued playing them throughout his life with no plans to stop any time soon. Steven’s favorite franchises in gaming include Pokemon, Dark Souls, and Counter-Strike. He has previously published with Bleacher Report and other gaming outlets.

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