The first two of the five players released by Team Falcons have found teams. Ammar "ATF" Al-Assaf joined Team Yandex on 17 September, one day after Oliver "skiter" Lepko signed for Aurora Gaming. Both teams are in the field for PGL Wallachia Season 9, which opens in Bucharest on 19 September.
This is a running tracker of the biggest confirmed moves since The International 2026 (TI15) ended on 23 August. It is not exhaustive — Liquipedia's transfer portal logs more than 50 entries in that window, many of them at lower-tier teams. Every entry below is a confirmed move, and anything unconfirmed is labelled as such.
The big moves since TI15
4 September — Xtreme Gaming release four. NothingToSay, fy, xNova and Xxs all left, as did head coach LaNm. More on the Xtreme Gaming teardown.
6 September — Team Falcons leave Dota 2. skiter, Malr1ne, ATF, Andreas "Cr1t-" Nielsen and Wu "Sneyking" Jingjun were all released, along with analyst Bonkers. That exit put five tier-1 players on the market and drove the 16 and 17 September signings below. Our report on the Falcons departure carries the org's full statement.
9 September — OG release three. Yopaj, Raven and TIMS left after a 14th-15th finish at TI15. Here is OG's full teardown.
11 September — Xtreme Gaming rebuild around Ame. Xm, zeal, XinQ and BoBoKa joined, the last of those from Team Refuser, with Maps promoted from assistant coach to head coach. Ame is the only player left from the previous lineup.
12 September — OG lose their coach. Adam "343" Shah departed, and Nikko's contract expired; Nikko had been on the inactive list since April.
13 September — Team Liquid lose their offlaner. Marcus "Ace" Hoelgaard left after 11 months, and the offlane is still open.
13-14 September — BetBoom rebuild. gpk and coach boolk moved to the inactive list on 13 September. Save- shifted from position 4 to mid and swedenstrong joined at position 4 on 14 September, with TORONTOTOKYO returning as coach in the same window. The full BetBoom roster breakdown.
16 September — Aurora Gaming sign skiter. Egor "Nightfall" Grigorenko moved to the inactive list. More on the Aurora carry swap.
17 September — ATF joins Team Yandex. Dmitry "DM" Dorokhin was benched to open the offlane. Team Yandex now field watson (1), CHIRA_JUNIOR (2), ATF (3), Saksa (4) and Malady (5).
Who still has an open slot
Team Liquid have the most valuable single vacancy in the scene. Liquipedia lists four active players — miCKe, Nisha, Boxi and tOfu — with no position 3 and no announced replacement.
OG have the most rebuilding left to do, carrying just two active players, Natsumi and skem, and no listed coach after 343's exit.
Three of the five released Falcons players have no new team. Liquipedia's transfer portal still shows Malr1ne and Sneyking leaving for no destination on 6 September with no later entry. Cr1t- announced an indefinite break from competing, which is not a retirement; Liquipedia still lists his status as active.
PGL Wallachia Season 9: the field
PGL Wallachia Season 9 runs 19-27 September at PGL Studios in Bucharest — 16 teams, offline, a $1,000,000 prize pool paying $300,000 to the winner and $10,000 for 15th-16th, on patch 7.41f. PGL's event page gives the format as a Swiss group stage into double-elimination playoffs with a best-of-five grand final. The lineup was announced on 16 September.
Liquipedia's group-stage page puts both on day one: Aurora Gaming face Pipsqueak+4 at 16:00 EEST (13:00 UTC) and Team Yandex face MOUZ at 19:00 EEST (16:00 UTC) on 19 September.
A correction: our 4 September report on the Wallachia team shortage listed a 17 September start and relayed a report, flagged there as unconfirmed, that PGL had switched to accepting applications by email. PGL's own event page now gives 19-27 September, Liquipedia's infobox matches it, and all 16 published slots are marked as direct invitations. Treat that start date and the email-applications claim as superseded.
The 16 teams are 1win, Aurora Gaming, Conventus Stellarum, GamerLegion, Hokori, LGD Gaming, MOUZ, Natus Vincere, Pibbles Corp, Pipsqueak+4, PlayTime, Team Cobra, Team Nemesis, Team Yandex, Xtreme Gaming and Yakult Brothers. TI15 champions Team Spirit are not among them, and neither are Team Liquid, BetBoom, PARIVISION or OG. Neither PGL nor the teams have published an explanation for those absences.
Three of the 16 are using stand-ins. Igor "Stojkov" Stojkov stands in for Mikoto at Aurora for personal reasons. 1win use Shad for Pure and Team Nemesis use Mo13ei and SaberLight for Ken and Jabz, both citing visa problems.
What is still unknown
Valve's official Dota 2 news feed has carried nothing since the 7.41f gameplay patch on 15 September — no battle pass, no in-game event, and nothing on a 2027 competitive system or a roster lock. No Valve post backs the reports of patch 7.42, a Battle Pass 2026 or a ranked season reset.
FAQ
When did the 2026 Dota 2 roster shuffle start? The International 2026 ended on 23 August. The moves at the top teams clustered between 4 and 17 September.
Which team has the biggest open slot right now? Team Liquid's position 3, vacant since Ace left on 13 September. OG have more rebuilding to do overall, with two active players and no coach.
Where did the Team Falcons players go? skiter joined Aurora Gaming on 16 September and ATF joined Team Yandex on 17 September. Cr1t- announced an indefinite break. Malr1ne and Sneyking had not announced a new team as of 18 September.
Is there a roster lock deadline for the 2027 Dota 2 season? Valve's news feed carries no roster lock, registration deadline or 2027 competitive system announcement.
When do the new rosters play? PGL Wallachia Season 9 begins on 19 September 2026 in Bucharest, and both Aurora and Team Yandex are scheduled on the opening day.
Sources: Liquipedia's Dota 2 transfer portal, team pages and PGL Wallachia Season 9 pages; PGL's official event page; Valve's official Dota 2 news feed; and team announcements. Retrieved 18 September 2026.
