China’s Dota 2 scene is unrecognizable

In the Chinese region, Tour 1 of Dota Pro Circuit 2023 is scheduled to start on January 5. It will be very interesting to see who the new top competitors are because a lot of the great players in the region have decided to either retire or take a break from the game.

There are hardly any recognizable players competing in Division I for Tour 1. Many of the top teams, including Team Aster, PSG.LGD, and Invictus Gaming, are still here. But the names that made history for this country are gone, at least for now.

Wang “Ame” Chunyu is inactive, Zhang “Faith_bian” retired, Yap “xNova” Jian Wei got transferred to Southeast Asia, Lu “Somnus` M” Yao joined Royal Never Give Up and the team is not listed for either division, and the list goes on.

Division I participants

The teams that will take part in Divison I of China are listed below:

• Knights
• Team Aster
• Xtreme Gaming
• LGD
• Aries
• EHOME
• Dawn Gaming
• Invictus Gaming

There are two teams on this list that don’t even have Liquipedia pages. One is Knights and the other is Dawn Gaming. How did these teams receive their slots? We don’t know but they must have bought them. Both RNG and CDEC had their slots transferred to these completely unknown entities.

This does not look for China, at least at the international level. Regionally we won’t sense the difference. But when the region sends its best teams to compete in DPC Majors and The International, we will probably realize that China is no longer a top three region in Dota 2. And they used to be either first or second for many years!

Favorites

The three teams that are likely to thrive in the region are Team Aster, Xtreme Gaming, and PSG.LGD. We don’t know much about PSG.LGD’s new players. All we know is that they are very young and probably very talented. But they’ll most likely struggle to successfully replace the giants whose shoes they need to fill.

Luckily for PSG.LGD, some giants are still around to play.

Xtreme Gaming has a big advantage in the new climate, thanks to the presence of Zhang “Paparazi” Chengjun. In the absence of the great strategic minds that are no longer part of the division, his prowess is likely to help his team win most of the matches.

As for Team Aster, they only changed one player: Zeng “Ori” Jiaoyang. His replacement is Zhai “Xwy” Jingkai. The 26-year-old is very experienced, so he’ll likely do a good job. This team finished fourth at The International 11, so there’s a high chance that they will place in the top three regionally.

Header: Perfect World