Pi Qiu Sheds Light On SumaiL And Team Aster’s Disbandment

Former Team Aster support player Yu “Pi Qiu” Yajun discussed on his live stream about Team Aster’s exit from Dota 2. He talks about SumaiL’s struggles and what went wrong in the organization. 

Team Aster Disbands And Pulls Out Of Dota 2

After having a massive impact on the Chinese Dota 2 scene, Team Aster has announced the release of its entire roster. The co-owner of Team Aster, ex-professional player BurNIng, declared that the organization would not continue its journey in Dota 2. 

The main components of the Team Aster roster, Monet, SumaiL, Xxs, and BoBoKa had departed from the team near the end of 2023 after failing to qualify for The International 12. The only remaining member from the roster was Pi Qiu. 

Team Aster tried an experimental roster with low-profile players and let the roster run for two months. After a string of unsuccessful results, the owners saw no reason to continue the team. 

Pi Qiu On SumaiL

While talking to his chat during a live stream, the 27-year-old revealed that the money he earned from playing professionally for several years was less than what SumaiL made in a few months playing with Aster. 

Though paying big money for SumaiL should have come with some results, Pi Qiu did not blame the star player for the team’s failure. 

*Credit to YouTube: Dota Lin Official For Translations*

“It was not a mutual loss to bring SumaiL into the team. I can only say that it was the wrong time and we met the wrong people. I should probably put it that way. Originally, we <Aster> were a mess, and we met another mess <Nigma>. Two messes together. Indeed, it was us four who troubled him.”

Pi Qiu mentions that SumaiL couldn’t eat properly during his time in the Team Aster boot camp.

“SumaiL couldn’t even get enough to eat at the base every day, and you still expect him to perform well? We ate at 12 PM, while he had to eat at 2 PM. If we ate at 6 PM, he had to eat at 8 PM. If I were him, I would have flipped the table already.”

Though it seemed like a weird excuse, Pi Qiu revealed why. SumaiL was not used to eating Chinese food that was cooked at the Team Aster base.

“He doesn’t eat the food prepared by the chef at our base, so he can only order takeout. The takeout he orders takes an hour or two to arrive. There’s no helping it. He can’t stand eating McDonald’s or KFC every day. It’s really disturbing.”

Pi Qiu’s chat questioned why SumaiL didn’t eat the food prepared by Team Aster, in which he responded.

“Which foreigner eats Chinese food, I wonder. Have you seen any foreigners eat Chinese food? Eating spicy dishes, braised pork, or stir-fried pork? They don’t even eat rice.”

It could be argued that SumaiL was being picky, but it’s also important to remember that he is a Muslim and cannot eat pork dishes. 

About Team Aster

Pi Qiu revealed that the owners’ motivation dropped when BoBoKa and Xxs excluded themselves from the team. 

“When BoBoKa and Xxs left, it was basically for sure that they did not want to do it anymore. This team was created for them. If they left, what’s the point in continuing?”

The duo of BoBoKa and Xxs had been playing together for seven years, starting from Invictus Gaming and then getting picked up by Team Aster during the organization’s initial entrance to the scene. They were the two pillars of Team Aster. 

After the four players left the team, Pi Qiu was the only one remaining and requested a second chance. He only asked to let the roster run for two months to see if they could achieve any results.

“It’s just that after last year’s TI, it seemed like Aster was done with the project. I said let’s try a new roster for two months, if it doesn’t work, then forget it. Then it didn’t work out, so we disbanded.”

Pi Qiu felt liable because Team Aster could not achieve the expected results in 2023 when the roster fielded SumaiL and slightly because of the failure of the temporary roster in 2024.

“Xiaofei <Aster Co-owner> really did his best as a boss. I can only say we felt guilty towards him. In 2023, we made a mess of things, and in the last few months, we didn’t achieve anything.”

Considering his statement about SumaiL’s salary, Team Aster may have invested a lot of money in the roster in 2023 but only managed minimal results.