“Reshuffles go from the top to the bottom”, — Fishman spoke about the specifics of transfers and salaries in Dota 2

Former professional player Dzmitry Fishman Palishchuk shared details in an interview with the cybersport portal about the sale of the Entity roster to Cloud9, salary levels, and the specifics of roster reshuffles on the pro scene.

Fishman explained that the reason for the sale of the Entity roster (which in 2024, in addition to Palishchuk, featured watson, No[o]ne-, DM, and Kataomi`) in 2024) was a lucrative offer from Cloud9, as well as difficulties with monetizing the roster in the discipline.

The owners of Entity are geniuses. They tried to turn a profit from Dota 2 for two or three years, and then realized: it’s incredibly difficult. We landed a sponsor in the form of a betting company on our jerseys. Then they received an offer from Cloud9 to buy the roster — they sold our roster there for nearly a million dollars.

That was the last tournament (The International 2024) where teams had bookmaker sponsors on their jerseys. After that, the bookmakers themselves started forming teams. And most organizations, as you can see now, are shutting down.

It’s worth noting that Roman RAMZES666 Kushnarev previously stated that the Tundra Esports roster was sold to 1WIN Team for nearly $2,000,000 — a sum he called modest and easily recoupable for a Tier 1 roster.

Fishman also cited a possible reason why the C9 roster split up after TI13:

And today’s PARIVISION roster could have been at Cloud9 if they had paid No[o]ne just a little more money. I don’t know the exact amounts; I’ve only heard about it. I don’t know if it’s true or not. I’d put it this way: it’s a guess. I don’t believe I’m sharing any insider information. But Cloud9 offered No[o]ne and everyone else $15,000, and No[o]ne said, “Give me $20,000–25,000.” And PARIVISION said, “Money’s no problem — let’s go.”

At Entity, we were getting $7,000, I think, and at Cloud9 — $8,000. The most important thing is that we didn’t re-sign our contracts: our contracts were bought out, and we moved to Cloud9 in such a way that our contracts remained the same — they were about to expire anyway. And after TI, the players simply weren’t re-signed.

In addition, Palishchuk revealed the structure of roster reshuffles in Dota 2, which is why the teams that Stanislav Malr1ne Potorak and Topias Topson Taavitsainen will start the new season with are still unknown:

Do you know how reshuffles work? From the top to the bottom. The strongest team chooses who to pick. The rest wait. And that’s the decision ladder. Let me give you an example. Topson has OG and Liquid as options. He’s waiting to see if Malr1ne will agree to join Liquid. And Liquid is waiting to see if Malr1ne will agree to join Liquid. And Topson is waiting and hasn’t given OG an answer. And that’s exactly how everyone was waiting for something.

Fishman stated that he is unlikely to return to the pro scene and believes that the future of Dota 2 lies in media tournaments, which, in his opinion, will become even more prestigious and attract more professional players.

As CyberScore previously reported, ATF discussed the reasons behind the disbandment of Team Falcons’ “golden” roster.