Can Aster win the Berlin Major with SumaiL standing-in?

Syed “SumaiL” Hassan hasn’t had much success with Team Nigma, but he will get to compete in a Dota 2 Major as a stand-in for Team Aster.

One of the Chinese team’s players seems to be having some issues. We don’t know if they are visa related or if it’s something more personal. What we do know is that Zhai “Xwy” Jingkai, the roster’s position 2 player, is now listed as inactive. The Berlin Major is still two weeks away, but Aster and Nigma have already made the announcement.

About Aster’s chances at the Berlin Major

Team Aster started the 2023 season with high hopes after finishing fourth at The International 2022. The team had a decent Tour 1, getting second place in the Chinese league and then scoring points at the Lima Major thanks to a seventh-eight place result.

In Tour 2, Aster struggled regionally but still finished fourth, which was sufficient to help them qualify for the Major. Given the management’s decision to bench one of the key players, the team’s results are likely not good enough relative to the objectives that were set at the start of the season.

Asking SumaiL to stand-in

This is not the first time when a Chinese team has asked a non-Chinese player to stand-in. We can still remember the adventures of Royal Never Give Up, who asked Anathan “ana” Pham to help them a few times. It didn’t go exactly as planned, but ana certainly played his part to the best of his ability.

Individually, SumaiL is one of the best midlaners in the world. Laning against him is said to be extremely difficult because he can spot every mistake immediately and then exploit it to perfection. It doesn’t take much for SumaiL to win his lane and if he isn’t ganked at least once, he often snowballs out of control.

But SumaiL doesn’t excel at collaborating with others. His communication skills are not spectacular and he probably doesn’t speak Mandarin. Hopefully, Aster’s players speak at least a little bit of English. Otherwise, communication will be a problem.

In Dota 2, the midlaner has a huge role to play in the team’s success and communication is essential. Otherwise it’s hard to coordinate and make good calls. As the True Sight series proved, the teams that win The International are very good at everything that involves communication and they always talk during the matches.

Header: ESL