Team Empire were able to reveal their final player on the last day of the shuffle period. Andrey ‘The_apathy’ Aleshkov will join Team Empire, but because he has already signed on for the Major with his previous team, aSpera, Empire are unable to lock their new roster.
Team Empire stated they were “facing a problem that can’t be solved”, and this caused them to take too long to lock their roster. Continuing on from this statement, Empire said: “Unfortunately, we can not declare The_apathy to Valve’s Major tournament for Team Empire, since he previously accepted the invitation on dota2.com from his former team aSpera, which he had already left. Under the rules of Valve, player who has accepted an invitation from a team remains locked behind this team until the end of the season.”
This means that Team Empire will not receive a direct invitation to the upcoming Major. They will also not be eligible for an invite to the qualifiers, although they will be able to take part in the open qualifiers. The rule of course only applies to the Major, and Team Empire will be allowed to compete with their roster in other tournaments.