DPC China 2023 Tour 1: Division 1 Week 2 and 3 Recap
| Tags: Dota 2
| Author The Old One
Detailing the second and “third” week of action in the Chinese DPC
The Chinese Dota Pro Circuit schedule has been a mess this year, with “weeks” consisting of five-day slots and an extra “week” being allotted just to fit two extra matches. The Dota played, on the other hand, has been nothing short of top-tier. We have already recapped the first week as well as two matchdays of the second (apologies), so here’s what went down in the five-day period since as well as how the table currently stands.
China DPC Tour 1 Table 18/1/23
After seven more series since last time, not much has changed on the table. Team Aster still leads the way with 5 wins and zero losses, with only two games having been taken off of them. They’re followed by Knights and PSG.LGD, who have won four matches each, and Xtreme Gaming, who are in fourth place with a score of 3-2.
Down below, EHOME and Invictus Gaming are tied in fifth, while Aster.Aries and Dawn Gaming are winless from their own five matches. Dawn are yet to win a single game, though, having been whitewashed in every single series they’ve played so far.
Recap
As usual, we have divided DPC matches by date for easier reading.
Jan 14
Dawn’s plight continued as the team was thrashed twice by in-form Aster. The first game was a quick, clinical execution, and the second was a slightly less quick but far more brutal and reckless butchering. We wish there had been something positive to say about Dawn’s performance, but they do sadly look hopeless for the time being.
Thankfully for Dota fans, the second series of the day provided more competition. Aster.Aries came alive in a hard-fought close encounter against iG,with both teams keeping each other on their toes through until almost the late game before the former was able to take a decisive advantage and carry it through to the end. Sadly for Aster.Aries, the underdogs were dominated in Game 2 before Game 3 followed pretty much the same path as Game 1, but in iG’s favor this time.
Jan 15
Allegations of using vision hacks against Knights haven’t been proven beyond reasonable doubt, and without a finalized statement from Valve, the new team’s matches continued. Up against Xtreme Gaming, Knights were smothered out in Game 1 with the kind of methodical play Chinese Dota is famous for. By contrast, Game 2 was a roller coaster, with Xtreme keeping a healthy lead for most of the game before Knights got the advantage and ran away with it. In Game 3, things looked to be pretty even until the mid-game, when Knights took over and won it.
Aster were undoubtedly the favorites heading into their series against EHOME, but few would have foreseen them dominating their opponents the way they did. EHOME were barely able to scrape together 15 kills across the two games, while Aster got 56 of their own and simply left no doubt as to which the better team was.
PSG.LGD vs IG was a curious affair. Game 1 was led by PSG.LGD for over an hour before iG suddenly took them by the throat and slammed them to the ground in a brilliant comeback after what was a slow and conservative game. Sadly for iG, this triumph was a one-off as PSG.LGD brutalized them in the shortest game of the Chinese DPC so far at 18 minutes, before pulverizing them to a 38-5 kill difference defeat to close out the series in emphatic fashion.
Jan 17
Speaking of massacres, that’s precisely what happened between Xtreme and Dawn, with the underdogs managing just 1 and 5 kills across two matches against the might of their experienced enemies. The only notable thing about this match was that it was the shortest full series of the DPC so far, with the two matches combinedly lasting for less than 40 minutes.
Aster.Aries vs Knights was much closer than anyone would likely have anticipated considering their other results. Game 1 was, against most odds, dominated by the underdogs as they cruised to a 29-minute victory. Knights immediately struck back, though, beating their opponents within the 26th minute to one-up them. The last match, however, was a slugfest. It went on for 77 minutes, had 75 kills in total, constant action, and a Divine Rapier. It was arguably the best game of the lot, and we strongly recommend you take a look at the highlights for it.
Make sure to join us for more regular DPC recaps, or take a look at our other Dota content, including Hero guides, draft strategies and more.
When he's not sighing at sub-standard teammates in Dota 2 and CS2, The Old One is writing about those two games (among other things). If you see his name around the site too many times for your liking, well, the guy just never stops writing. Yes, we've tried an intervention.