Dota 2
The Chinese Dota 2 teams haven’t been in their best form, and the results at The Lima Major 2023 proved it. Even though the region had 4 representatives, including the likes of PSG.LGD and Aster, none of the teams were able to live up to expectations. This raised a lot of questions; such as whether China deserves to have 4 DPC slots.
With that said, the arrival of Tour 2 of the 2023 DPC brought some changes to the region. Following the Valve ban wave that affected 46 Chinese and SEA Dota 2 players, Knights, and EHOME had to step down from the DPC. Their 2 slots were given to two new teams who had to fight against the best in China.
Speaking of the devil, many of you are probably interested in how our first week of matchups played out. If that’s the case, let’s go over some of the results you should be aware of.
Vici Gaming started with a dominant victory against YBB Gaming
After Vici’s disappointing performance in last year’s DPC, the team had to fight for its position among the best in China. After ripping through the competition in Division II, Vici found their way into the 2023 DPC Tour 2 Division I and won their first match against YBB Gaming.
Vici used two completely different drafts in both maps, but the end result was more than impressive. In the first game of the series, Ybb tried to use the 4 protect 1 strat and focus on Terrorblade, but things didn’t work out. Setsu had the chance to roll out his signature Shadow Fiend, and the player became the star of the show.
After the quick 32-minute victory in Game 1, Vici continued with its dominant performance in the second game of the match. This time, the Chinese powerhouses needed 35 minutes to win. Although Ybb’s draft looked good on paper, the team wasn’t able to overcome the WK and Ember combo and ended up losing.
Xtreme Gaming defeated iG
Even though Paparzii’s team was one of the big favorites during Tour 1, the team wasn’t able to overcome EHOME and didn’t qualify for The Lima Major 2023. However, Tour 2 is here, meaning XG has the chance to improve their results.
Luckily, Xtreme Gaming’s first match of the week resulted in a victory. Invictus Gaming is one of the teams in the Chinese DPC that could explode in any match, making them a difficult opponent. However, XG was better in the first match because it picked Lich and PA, two heroes who are becoming increasingly popular in the new meta.
Despite winning the first map, Xtreme Gaming wasn’t able to do the same in the second one. Even though they picked the Lich, Storm and Ursa draft, which is excellent for securing kills, Invictus Gaming and their Shadow Fiend draft were too strong.
Neither team had a clear advantage over the other until the 30th minute when iG won a big team fight. This allowed their Marci and SF draft to gain a solid lead and eventually win the game.
Unfortunately, iG wasn’t able to use the momentum in the third match and lost after just 27 minutes of play. No one expected this to happen because Dust’s Templar Assasin had an excellent start and even got an early Aegis. However, this item wasn’t able to stop XG’s overly-farmed Lone Druid, who ripped through them.
PSG.LGD won against Aries
Aster.Aries had a solid start to Week 1 of the 2023 DPC Tour 2 in China after an easy victory against the Outsiders from China. However, the team’s second series was versus PSG.LGD, and as expected, it didn’t go well.
The first match between these two was a lot more interesting than expected because it lasted for 41 minutes. LGD got their hands on some of their favorite heroes, but Aster’s Morph and Leshrac draft wasn’t going down without a fight. Unfortunately, LGD’s cores got too fat, and they eventually won the first map.
After the victory, shiro and the rest completely dominated in the second game of the match. Aster Aries tried using the Ember and Ursa combo to allow them to take early fights and stop LGD’s Luna from taking over. Sadly, things didn’t go well for them and Aries lost almost all of their early fights. Needless to say, this gave LGD a massive advantage, and the team used it to win in just 22 minutes.
Aster won 3 matches during the 2023 DPC China Division I
Following its impressive performance at TI 11, many people consider Team Aster to be the best in China. Even though the squad didn’t put on a shining performance at The Lima Major 2023, they did better than most other Chinese squads. Consequently, we weren’t surprised Aster secured 3 victories during the 2023 DPC China Division I.
The first success came against Outsides from China, and it was a one-sided show. Aster won the two maps in less than 40 minutes combined, which was really impressive and gave the squad the needed motivation.
Following the easy victory, Aster’s second match of the week was versus Invictus Gaming. As expected, both teams used everything they had in this match, but following an epic battle, Aster came out on top.
Game one wasn’t that difficult because the Leshrac and Slark draft took full control of the match. However, the second game was a far more complicated ordeal; iG banned Slark and took Storm Spirit and Bristleback in the draft. We expected Emo and co. to win, but Aster’s resilient draft and Enigma’s Black Hole were enough for them to win the match.
Aster’s final series of the week was versus Aster.Aries, which is the organization’s second squad. It probably doesn’t come as a surprise to learn Monet and the rest had no problems overcoming their opponents. The first game was definitely more intense, but the second one was one-sided after the laning stage. Aster’s experience and better draft gave the team the needed advantage to win the match.