The Dota Pro Circuit 2023 and International 12 this year might just have record-breaking number of new teams. Many seek to match the performance of emerging powerhouses like Gaimin Gladiators and Talon Esports. It’s always nice to see new candidates competing in the DPC 2023 and TI12 qualifiers.
We take a look at all the “new” teams joining the scene.
Source: Valve | The International 9
New teams, old veterans
Arguably one of the most anticipated Chinese teams to emerge late-DPC 2023 is Azure Ray. The team, formerly Ybb Gaming, features remnants of TI8-9 PSG.LGD roster, which many proclaim as the strongest Chinese roster of its time.
Specifically, there is Lu “Somnus” Yao, Yang “Chalice” Shenyi, and the legendary Xu “fy” Linsen. The ex-PSG.LGD players attempted to recruit their former carry teammate, Wang “Ame” Chunyu, but to no avail, likely due to his contract with PSG.LGD itself.
Instead, two former Ybb players, Lou “Lou” Zhen and Jiang “天命” An, complete the Azure Ray line-up for the China Tour 3 of DPC 2023. Going up against the current top dogs of China, such as PSG.LGD, Team Aster, Invictus Gaming and Xtreme Gaming will be tough, even for these veteran players.
Notably, Team Aster will surely be their toughest rival, now that they have the presence of Sumail “SumaiL” Hassan to overpower the competition. Against IG, Xtreme or even PSG.LGD, however, there might be a decent shot at landing a comfortable top-four finish and qualify for Bali Major 2023.
Emerging European Rosters
European teams, especially the Western Europeans need no introduction after dominating two majors this year. Both Gaimin Gladiators and Team Liquid finished top-two consecutively with the former being the champions twice.
Yet, even in such a competitive region, Quest Esports could potentially be a top-four candidate from WEU to qualify for Bali Major. Formerly known as Ooredoo Thunders, this underdog squad was a tiebreaker short of debuting at Berlin Major. Although team OG emerged victorious, many are confident that Quest Esports could give OG a run for their money in the ongoing Tour 3.
Quest Esports welcomes Ammar “ATF” Al-Assaf.
They recruited the renowned Ammar “ATF” Al-Assaf as their offlaner, who has his moments since his professional debut. Couple that with the fact that OG didn’t bring Ivan “MinD_ContRoL” Ivanov onboard after their successful run at Berlin Major. And we have our hopes high for Quest Esports.
Over at Eastern Europe, UALEIKUMNIHAO is a new team that blitz past the open qualifier and Division 2 bracket within one month since their debut. Now, facing off against their Division 1 opponents for the first time is definitely a milestone for such a new team. Unfortunately, it would be too farfetched to say that they could rival the top-three powerhouses currently gatekeeping EEU region. 9Pandas and Team Spirit are definitely out of question for UALEIKUMNIHAO to compete against, but BetBoom might just have some opening to topple.
Meanwhile at North America
The NA region also has its fair number of new teams, albeit not for the right reasons. There are Sand King Gómez, ALPHA and B8 currently competing in Division 1, but they are not even North American players.
This is the crippling state of NA Dota 2 over the past seasons, but this is easily the worst thus far. Of course, we aren’t expecting any of these teams to qualify for Bali Major, let alone TI12. They are still occupying slots that should have gone to NA talents, but given how lacklustre NA opponents have been. It’s difficult to blame these newcomers for surpassing the local competition.
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