TI11 China Regional Qualifiers

It has been a rough year for the Chinese candidates in DPC (2021-22) as multiple prominent powerhouses play in the International 11 China regional qualifiers.

Specifically, there are only two Chinese teams, which secured direct invites to TI11, namely PSG.LGD and Team Aster. This is a stepdown from past years when there are three or more Chinese direct invites.

Image Credits | TI8

Royal Never Give Up vs Ybb Gaming

RNG is the closest on the list to ever secure a direct invite to TI11 and frankly lives up to their name. Many fans even proclaimed RNG as PSG.LGD in disguise since three remnants of the latter team are here. Notably, Lu “Somnus” Yao is RNG’s power-forward going into the International 11 China regional qualifiers.

Although RNG hasn’t been in their best form at PGL Arlington Major recently, they are still a stronger opponent against Ybb Gaming. Ybb is among the newest teams to make their debut in Division 1 bracket, albeit off to a swallow success.

As such, they likely won’t pose much threat to seasoned players from RNG.

Vici Gaming vs Aster.Aries

VG is yet another powerhouse that has been rundown since the start of DPC. Featuring an entirely new roster, VG struggled to compete against prominent rivals, such as PSG.LGD, Team Aster, and even EHOME.

These days, VG is barely keeping up against the mediocre candidates in Division 1, and yet, they still couldn’t keep up against Aster.Aries. Since AA has a history of defeating VG in Division 1 last Tour, we could at least, assume AA has something up their sleeves to overwhelm VG again.

For instance, AA’s team fight capabilities revolve around defensive skills and sustainability. This enables AA to turn the tides of a team fight after the opponent initiated.

EHOME vs CDEC Gaming

EHOME is still highly regarded as a rising star in the DPC China Tour 3. They featured a stack of young blood, who gave many powerhouses a run for their money. Fluke or not, EHOME had a record of defeating PSG.LGD in the last Tour, so they are considered staples in Division 1 today.

If EHOME hones their deadly combos from team fight-oriented drafts, this could be a recipe for success against seasoned opponents that typically survive the midgame snowballs. Regardless, EHOME is up against a less promising opponent, CDEC.

CDEC is comprised of mostly new players, but we should be wary of their phenomenal performance in Division 2. The team quickly became top seeds and managed to secure their Division 1 slot next DPC season. Hence, EHOME should be careful going into this match-up, whereby CDEC likely has many wild cards up its sleeves as the newbie in town.

Invictus Gaming vs Xtreme Gaming

Arguably the toughest match-up in the International 11 China regional qualifiers. IG is once hailed as runner-up in TI10 but fell off the performance chart in recent DPC. Regardless, IG is still a team with too many achievements to ever consider an underdog.

They recently picked up the prodigy support player, Xu “fy” Linsen, so we can expect IG to be a relevant challenger to its opponent, Xtreme. Much like RNG, Xtreme also has multiple remnants of team VG, which once competed consistently in the International championship.

Xtreme also make up the four contestants to qualify for the majors, but withdrew from Arlington Major, likely because they knew they won’t secure enough DPC points regardless. As such, they are probably stockpiling powerful strategies as we head into TI11 China Regional Qualifiers soon.

The TI11 China Regional Qualifiers is the toughest region to qualify for TI and any major for that matter. Fortunately, alongside one qualified winner, there will be two runners-up to compete in Last Chance qualifiers too.

If the Chinese teams do live up to their reputation, we might just see the standard four Chinese teams at the International 11 once again.