Loda steps away from competing with Alliance, Era to replace

Jonathan ‘Loda’ Berg is stepping away from competitive DOTA 2 play, and the Swedish legend will be taking a break from competing with the team until after The International 7, Valve’s next tournament.

Berg is well known to fans of The International for his victory with Alliance at TI4 in 2013, however since becoming a co-owner of Alliance in December 2016 he has found that his attentions are being dragged in too many directions, and so he’s stepping away from competition to focus on other things.

In the meantime he’ll be replaced by Adrian ‘Era’ Kryeziu, who was recently let go by Ninjas in Pyjamas, and as a result of the roster shuffle after Valve’s roster lock on May 26, Alliance will have to brawl through the open qualifiers, as it’s no longer eligible to receive invitations to The Invitational or the regional qualifiers leading into the event.

However, Alliance certainly have the quality to qualify for the main event. If they were to let fail to qualify it would be a large upset for the team, but since their win in 2013, they’ve struggled to reach the same heights, with Berg the only remaining player on their roster after a decade long Dota career.

With Kryeziu stepping in, Alliance are completely different from the founding roster, however they’ll no doubt be hoping to channel some of the success of the name and make it to the main event.