TI12 China Qualifier favorites

In the upcoming regional qualifiers for The International 12, China is one of the most important regions.

Unfortunately for the Chinese teams, Valve decided to offer their region only one qualification spot for the great event. Meanwhile, South America received two, even though the top two teams in the region finished Dota Pro Circuit in the top 12 and are already qualified.

The battle in the Chinese region will take place between 15 teams, but most of them have no chance of winning. Only four teams could realistically win the race and of those four, two are significantly stronger than the rest. Those two teams are Team Aster and Azure Ray.

The Chinese Qualifier is scheduled to take place between August 17-21 and will be one of the first regional qualifiers to be played. At the moment, all of the 15 participants are probably training hard in anticipation of the tournament.

China Qualifiers Favorites

Given Aster’s most recent roster changes, it’s hard not to view them as the strongest team in the race. First they signed Sumail “Sumail” Hassan, who is one of the best midlaners in the history of the game. Then they brought in one of the best position four players, Hu “Kaka” Liangzhi.

Both of these players are former TI finalists. In Sumail’s case, he actually won The International in 2015 with Evil Geniuses.

Nice bo3 win, super happy and excited! #RiyadhMasters

— Sumail (@SumaaaaiL) July 26, 2023

This year, Aster had good results but they still failed to score points at the last two Majors. Combined with the roster changes they made along the way, this caused them to fail to finish the regular season in the top 12. That’s why they ended up competing in this regional qualifier.

If they can beat Azure Ray, their TI12 spot is almost guaranteed because there’s no one else that’s strong enough to beat them. But Azure Ray will be a very tough team to beat.

A quick look at Azure’s roster reveals that this team is made up of former PSG.LGD players, such as Lu “Somnus” Yao and Xu “fy” Linsen. These guys finished several times in the top 3 at The International, so they have everything it takes to win. The only question is: will they be able to adapt to the new meta fast enough?

When you take a long break from Dota 2, coming back feels very strange and it’s harder than it seems. Sebastien “Ceb” Debs already experienced this. The game changes rapidly and the greats from 2018 are no longer the greats of 2023.

Header: Team Aster