Dota 2: TI9 Region Preview | China

The International is the biggest event in Dota 2 and it has the potential to change the life of the players. That’s why every single team attend the tournament always gives it all out. Having said that, it’s time to have a closer look at some of the strongest regions, which could “elect” the next TI winner.

China – the country with the most TI players

The first one our list will be China, a region that has produced more than one TI winners. Even though the teams had a lot of problems at the start of the DPC season, slowly but steadily, those issues got resolved and now they are looking stronger than ever. Let’s take a look at each of the four Chinese representatives and their road to TI 9.

Vici Gaming

The first team on the list and probably the strongest right now is Vici Gaming. Having said that, Paparazzi and his team-mates have had the “second place” curse for a long time before they finally managed to break free.

In fact, the EPICENTER Major was taken by storm from Vici Gaming just a couple of weeks ago. Apart from that, the StarLadder Minor and the following DreamLeague Major were also places where Vici shined the most.

Zhang has always been “the star of the show” because he used to be one of China’s highest MMR players. However, Ori is probably the person who improved the most throughout this DPC season. Not only did he escape the shadow of Paparazzi, but he also became pretty much the most dominant mid-laner out there.

Of course, one of the keys to Vici’s success lays down in their playstyle. Often referred to as hyper-aggressive, the Chinese powerhouse relies heavily on their two superstars – Zeng “Ori” Jiaoyang and Zhang “Paparazi” Chengjun. In fact, Zhang has always been “the star of the show” because he used to be one of China’s highest MMR players. However, Ori is probably the person who improved the most throughout this DPC season. Not only did he escape the shadow of Paparazzi, but he also became pretty much the most dominant mid-laner out there.

Vici Gaming’s players have been playing together for over a year now. This definitely makes them one of the deadliest opponents at TI 9.

PSG.LGD

The next team on this list is also the second directly invited Chinese team. LGD has always been a force to be reckoned with when it comes down to Chinese Dota. In fact, their roots begin way back in DotA, and until now, they’ve always had a strong roster capable of challenging the best teams in the world.

Having said that, many of you still remember their performance during TI 8. They pretty much ripped through all teams there and everyone expected them to win. However, ana and OG’s incredible performance did not allow this to happen.

This year the situation is a little bit different because LGD is not as dominant as before. In fact, they even had some issues when Lu’ Maybe’ Yao left their roster after the end of TI 8. However, as soon as he got back in the main roster, things changed for the better. Having said that Maybe it is definitely not as game-changing as he once was. Many of the new mid superstars often are on pair if not better performing compared to him. Despite this, he still remains one of the driving trains behind LGD’s success.

Keen Gaming

The last directly invited Chinese team also happens to be the last on the DPC rankings. Keen Gaming had some very bright moments before but their most recent performance is definitely not on the level of a team that is directly invited to TI 9. Not only did they miss out on the EPICENTER Major but they also did not perform as well in the other tournaments where they played.

Keen Gaming has some of the strongest players in their respective positions. Despite that, it seems like they are still lacking a lot of the “team spirit”. Of course, it is possible that we can see yet another explosion from them during TI itself. However, this is very unlikely, especially if we look at the other teams playing in this tournament.

Royal Never Give Up

Last, but definitely not least, we have the final Chinese team going to TI 9 – RNGU. Unlike the other three though, Du ‘Monet’ Peng and his team-mates had to do it the hard way – through the Closed Qualifiers.

RNGU’s performance during the DPC season has been very questionable. Sometimes they completely surprised their enemies whereas, in others, they were nowhere to be found. Despite that, having players such as Monet in your roster can always bring you good results.

Expect more overviews of the other remaining regions. With TI being less than a month away, the hype is getting bigger and bigger with each day.

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Images via Liquipedia.