The entire Chinese DPC Division 1 will be played on LAN, promising more excitement and fair competition among eight of the region’s best. Team Aster comes back to China after a decent showing in the Berlin Major with Pakistani Midlaner Suma1l in tow for the rest of the 2023.
Sportsbook Pinnacle believes in the arrival of the king as the difference maker, giving Aster favorite odds at 3.33. However, Berlin Major attendees Xtreme Gaming, who finally made noise in the international scene after lots of external problems last year, are close by with odds of 4.00.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: May 14th, 12:30 P.M. (PST)
Both these teams bombed out of Berlin after a graceful defeat to Team Liquid, with only Xtreme Gaming managing to take a game off the Nisha-led team in their entire lower bracket run to the grand finals, causing a scare after dominating game one. The unfortunate bracket placement of these two teams however caused early exits for those repping the Chinese flag.
As for Team Aster, despite the language barrier and taking into consideration Suma1l’s immense talent manning the mid lane, they bought him out of his Nigma Galaxy contract right after their major run ended. Suma1l’s form looked incredible and he seems to be performing well under the Team Aster strategy book. He became one of the few Western players to join a Chinese team after Black’s tenure with Vici Gaming way back 2014.
Meanwhile, Xtreme Gaming has been a staple at the top of China and should be a safe bet to make as well. Kaka coming in to take up the soft support position provided Xtreme new avenues to success. With the new patch, Coach LaNm, who was one of the best position 5 player in the world during his younger days, will be given the heavy task of trying to figure out how to make the most of the new changes to the game as it felt like Xtreme Gaming was a bit lost given the overhaul of the meta in place for quite a few tournaments.
PSG.LGD looks to change up their position 3 again, which is seemingly their weakest link as they have replaced their offlaner twice now with Zeal stepping down for niu, who last played for Vici Gaming. The biggest story of the Chinese scene is the return of retirees Somnus, chalice, and Fy coming together again in Azure Ray, formerly known as YBB gaming.
These three are among the best to have ever touched the game in the region with Somnus and Fy winning a lot of tournaments together under the LGD banner during their stint with the team. The three of them famously went second in TI8, losing a heartbreaker 2-3 along with Ame and xNova. All eyes are definitely going to be on the comeback of these guys to the tier 1 scene.
