After winning EPICENTER, can LGD restore the sacred tradition of Dota 2?

Dota 2 tradition says that even years always belong to China. It’s been like that since 2011. But it looks like the tradition could be broken this year. At the beginning of the Dota Pro Circuit season, we saw Newbee continue their TI performance but recently they lost it. VGJ.Thunder also had shining moments but also soon died out. And now, it seems that China’s hope remains only one team – the members have stuck together for the past year but will they be able to uphold this tradition?

At DAC, LGD showed the potential strength of the team but at EPICENTER XL, they exploded. Entering the new patch and forced to face the strongest teams in Dota, LGD showed their true strength. PSG.LGD overcame the obstacles that had prevented the team from winning the DAC title a month earlier to lift the trophy. But LGD’s story doesn’t just begin here. They started 9 months ago in Seattle, where the members surprised the world for the first time.

Fall and new lineup

At The International 2017, the team entered the event after a lackluster season. If not overshadowed by LFY, LGD’s 4th place would have been the biggest surprise of the tournament. The members struggled to qualify for the tournaments and when they qualified for the international LAN tournament, the team finished at the bottom of the group.

It started in December 2017 at The Summit 8, the bottom LGD tournament. In four months, from a team that beat Virtus.pro, Team Secret and TNC Pro Team, they fell to Fnatic and OpTic gaming. Clearly something had to change.

In the deleted Weibo post, just mentioned on reddit, CEO Pan “Ruru” Jie intervened and said she needed half a year. Half a year to rebuild and get the team back to the top. And she wasted no time. In the months following The Summit, LGD recruited offlaner Yang “Chalice” Shenyi and give Xu “fy” Linsen returned to position 4, the position that made him a name. The members showed they were willing to think outside the box, which is rare in China, to find a position 5 member who could work with Fy and complete the lineup. In an unexpected move, Yap “xNova-” Jian Wei was the chosen one. xNova has no international experience and its former team, WarriorsGaming.Unity, is not the top team in Southeast Asia either. It was a risky gamble but the team saw something in him and looking at the current results, everyone certainly didn’t regret the decision. Ruru now has all the recipes.

With the vast majority of teams, it usually takes a while for new members to get to know each other. With Dota 2 – a game of complexity and depth with a huge amount of information to be processed every second, sometimes you almost need to telepathize with your teammates to not fall behind. While the oil is on fire, especially in the combat phase, a second of hesitation in Dota is not allowed. Before the teamfight happens, you need to know which skill to use on which hero. It takes many months to develop this skill.

However with LGD, it looks like they finished in just one day. They became a formidable force in China, appearing 7 times in a row in the final round, winning 5. They have regained their position at home, and now it’s time to go to the big sea.

International

While looking strong in China, LGD’s international story in the first two tournaments was uneventful. They almost won the title of StarLadder i-League Season 4 but lost to Team Liquid. After that, LGD left early at ESL One Katowice, the team’s more forgettable than memorable tournament.

This is where mistrust begins to spread. At these moments, even if you’re playing at the top level of StarLadder, it’s still seen as ‘shining once and for all’. LGD needed to prove they weren’t, and DAC was seen as an opportunity for the team. LGD can play at home and is also a proof to remove all worries.

The DAC group stage continued its unstable performance. They beat Liquid and Newbee but lost to OpTic, TNC Pro Team and OG. This led to a competition for tickets between 5 teams. Backed up in a corner, LGD bounced back and won 4-1, earning a place in the winning draw. But ‘thick mandarin peel with sharp fingernails’, they found themselves in a very difficult fight. In the journey to the final, LGD overcame Evil Geniuses, Liquid, Mineski and VP – the face of the world Dota village. LGD fought bravely, unfortunately Mineski went on to beat the Chinese boys for the second time. As the crowd cheered against the SEA team, LGD left the stands. Disappointed, but they know what this means in their minds. The members started the campaign to regain glory for China.

EPICENTER

In a way, EPICENTER means a lot to the CIS region, like DAC does to China. Very few tournaments that local fans can come and enjoy. When the group stage was announced, LGD knew they were being placed alongside Liquid and Mineski, the two teams that had seen them off in previous tournaments. Not only that, these two opponents are also in the first two matches against LGD in the group stage. With the new patch released, the team has no way of knowing the enemy. The win over Mineski and the loss against Liquid taught LGD important lessons. In their post-tournament interview, xNova mentioned that the matchup broadened their view of the power of Skywrath Mage, the hero the team used to defeat Liquid afterwards.

The loss to Liquid is no longer recurring. LGD has made it through the remaining matches of the group stage, looking stronger than ever. The members won a place in the winning bracket but soon met two obstacles, VP and Liquid – the world No. 1 and No. 2 in the DPC rankings. LGD looked strong and sent them both down to the lower bracket only to have to face Liquid again in the final game of the tournament. This is an opportunity for LGD to take revenge and clear all doubts about themselves. Beating Liquid in the Major final would quell his mockers.

The final became one of the most exciting matches of DPC ever. Liquid and LGD are very evenly matched. The games that took place spoke for this. With the exception of the last game, all the rest of the games went like this: a team that dominated early in the game but were then surpassed, in a dizzying fashion, in the later stages. In the end, LGD won 3-1 thanks to Skywrath Mage taking control of the lane. Liquid didn’t realize that he was the one who gave LGD the formula to beat them.

The revenge is complete. Over the past six months, they have had an amazing journey, from a seemingly tier 2 team to the top of the world. While the members have been waiting a long time for their first major title at the Major, as well as for China, LGD will certainly want to be the guardians of Dota2’s long tradition.