Alliance roster changes: Akke and Loda separate for the first time in 4 years
Alliance's Akke and Loda's incredible unbroken four year run playing
together will be coming to an end in the upcoming season, after the TI3
winning roster have decided to go their separate ways.
After reforming last year, Alliance's TI3 winning roster is breaking up for the second time
Although Navi confirmed today their roster would remain the same for the coming roster lock, Alliance revealed that rumours of S4 departing were in fact correct. What is more Loda's long-term partner in crime has also stepped down from the active roster, with Henrik 'AdmiralBulldog' Ahnberg doing the same.
“I will part ways with my friends to continue my journey in competitive dota. It’s sad that we couldn’t make it work but I wish my former teammates the best of luck and that they continue to stay strong!" said Gustav 's4' Magnusson in the official statement. Meanwhile AdmiralBulldog said that he had enjoyed the reunion but what with S4 leaving the team, he felt he too needed a change of pace. S4 has been strongly linked with a move to OG, while AdmiralBulldog wrote that he himself may take a break until after the first Major. Akke's future remains uncertain.
Alliance's roster
Jonathan 'Loda' Berg
Jerry 'EGM' Lundkvist
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In October 2012 Akke and Loda joined No TideHunter, which would later become the classic The Alliance roster - albeit with EGM instead of EternalEnvy. Their crowning glory was winning The International 3 after only four months under the Alliance banner. The roster eventually separated post-TI4 when Gustav 's4' Magnusson went to Team Secret and EGM to Team Tinker*.
Following this Alliance went dormant, and a never ending revolving door of stand-ins eventually led to Henrik 'AdmiralBulldog' Ahnberg taking a break from competition to become a streamer, leaving only Akke and Loda. The pair were unable to replicate the magic they had conjured up with their former team-mates, and Alliance even missed out on competing at TI5.
NoTideHunter went on to become Alliance after replacing EternalEnvy with EGM (Image: Source)
Alliance's official roster (not including stand-ins) has remained almost exclusively Swedish since it was founded in April 2014, and Sebastien '7ckngMad' Debs's brief stint in the team from March to August last year was the only exception to the rule. However, given the available players we could well see Alliance becoming an international team this season.
Loda on Alliance: "We all need a change"
Although Navi confirmed today their roster would remain the same for the coming roster lock, Alliance revealed that rumours of S4 departing were in fact correct. What is more Loda's long-term partner in crime has also stepped down from the active roster, with Henrik 'AdmiralBulldog' Ahnberg doing the same.
“I will part ways with my friends to continue my journey in competitive dota. It’s sad that we couldn’t make it work but I wish my former teammates the best of luck and that they continue to stay strong!" said Gustav 's4' Magnusson in the official statement. Meanwhile AdmiralBulldog said that he had enjoyed the reunion but what with S4 leaving the team, he felt he too needed a change of pace. S4 has been strongly linked with a move to OG, while AdmiralBulldog wrote that he himself may take a break until after the first Major. Akke's future remains uncertain.
Alliance's roster
Jonathan 'Loda' Berg
Jerry 'EGM' Lundkvist
????
????
????
Akke and Loda's in-game partnership comes to an end?
Jonathan 'Loda' Berg and Joakim 'Akke' Akterhall have played together for an age, and were even team-mates back in Dota 1 for SK Gaming from 2007-2008. Aside from Loda's brief four months playing with Daryl 'iceiceice' Koh for Team Zenith in 2012, the two players have competed side by side in the same team for their entire Dota 2 careers.
Loda and Akke at ESWC back in 2008 when they were playing together for SK Gaming
Loda and Akke remain the longest-standing partnership in Dota 2 until now, and although today's official announcement
does give the impression Akke could still remain in the organisation,
it seems it will not be as a player. "Joakim has decided to leave the
current team but his future with Alliance remains undecided," said
Alliance on the website, who added that a further statement regarding
Akke would be released "in the upcoming weeks".
Brief history of Alliance: 2012/2013 - 2016
In October 2012 Akke and Loda joined No TideHunter, which would later become the classic The Alliance roster - albeit with EGM instead of EternalEnvy. Their crowning glory was winning The International 3 after only four months under the Alliance banner. The roster eventually separated post-TI4 when Gustav 's4' Magnusson went to Team Secret and EGM to Team Tinker*.
Following this Alliance went dormant, and a never ending revolving door of stand-ins eventually led to Henrik 'AdmiralBulldog' Ahnberg taking a break from competition to become a streamer, leaving only Akke and Loda. The pair were unable to replicate the magic they had conjured up with their former team-mates, and Alliance even missed out on competing at TI5.
Fortunately Alliance reformed the TI3 winning roster late last year
after attracting S4 back to the team, and with EGM and AdmiralBulldog
also back in action, they enjoyed immediate success winning WCA 2015 in
China in December 2015 before then going on to win Starladder the
following month. Results which Vega's Solo said was down to Alliance adapting better than other teams to the patch. Their performances earned them a direct invite to the Shanghai Major where they placed 7-8th.
This period was to be their best run together after reforming, and a
flashback of the golden age of Alliance. The team however, could not
keep up the good run and Loda's statement earlier this evening mentioned that they "all need a change".
We had our up and downs, winning WCA and
StarLadder was amazing, fighting our way to TI again indescribable and
reaching WB at TI made us feel redeemed. We got back together again to
do our thing and we reached for the top, but faltered along the way. It
sucks, but now we all need a change.
What next for Alliance?
Alliance's official roster (not including stand-ins) has remained almost exclusively Swedish since it was founded in April 2014, and Sebastien '7ckngMad' Debs's brief stint in the team from March to August last year was the only exception to the rule. However, given the available players we could well see Alliance becoming an international team this season.
Thank you for everything @AdmiralBulldog @s4dota and @FollowAkke! Long live @theAllianceGG. pic.twitter.com/1MQ9uEA35C— Monster Gaming (@MonsterGaming) 28 August 2016
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