Earlier this month, I was a bit shocked when Team Liquid announced that Lasse “Matumbaman” Urpalainen is out of their Dota 2 roster and since then, they’ve been practicing with a replacement. However, the replacement was kept secret until late last night, when Team Liquid announced that Aliwi “w33” Omar would be stepping into their roster starting with upcoming Epicenter Major taking place over the next two weekends.
RELATED: Dota 2: Matumbaman Out of Team Liquid’s Starting Roster
Fans will probably know Aliwi “w33” Omar best from his The International 2016 run with Digital Chaos. The team went all the way to the grand finals before losing to Wings Gaming. He was also the first player to reach 8000 MMR back in the day and is known for his amazing Meepo play.
Team Liquid’s full roster heading into the Epicenter Major is:
- Aliwi “w33” Omar
- Amer “Miracle-” Al-Barkawi
- Ivan “MindControl” Ivanov
- Maroun “GH” Merhej
- Kuro Salhi “Kuroky-” Takhasomi
Team Liquid made the announcement of w33 joining their roster, explaining that:
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”#33f6ff” class=”” size=”22″] Our Dota 2 team is filled with some of the greatest players in the world for their positions and w33 will fit in terrifically with them. W33 has proven himself to be one of the most resourceful mid laners in Dota 2, going toe to toe with the greatest players who have ever played the role.
He does not shy away from playing off-meta heroes when required even when the stakes are high as we have seen with his Skywrath and Jakiro. W33 made a name for himself playing Invoker and Meepo as a pubstar but solidified his position as a world class mid laner during his time on Secret and during his TI6 run.
We’re going to unleash that world class mid laner once again. W33 has continued to impress us during his time in South America where over and over again he has delivered, not only in the mid lane lane, but also with his rotations and his decision making as a player. Any team would be lucky to have such an outstanding player join their roster and we once again welcome w33 to our family. [/perfectpullquote]
This news was first brought to my attention by local Dota 2 player Chaosweaver. It remains to be seen where Matumbaman will end up but I, for one, hope to see him compete with a new team in The International 2019 qualifiers. He is a TI winner after all, so teams will probably fight over him.
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What do you think about Team Liquid’s pick to replace Matumbaman? Let us know in the comment section below.
