Team Aster vs Vici Gaming: Will ping become an obstacle for Aster?

The first DPC league of the 2021/22 season in China will continue on Friday, January 07. Team Aster and Vici Gaming will meet in the second matchday of the elite division.

DPC CN 2021/22 Tour 1: Division I is an online Dota 2 tournament that will take place from January 03 to 21, 2022. The top eight teams from the China region will be competing for $205,000. On top of the cash prizes, the teams will also fight for four entries to the majors and the crucial DPC points needed to qualify for T11.

Asian insiders report that three Aster players can still return to China after their TI10 trip to Romania in October. The Chinese players Monet, Xxs and BoBoKa, are now in Indonesia in an isolation hotel and are wagering with a distinctly unpleasant ping. We can see why they crashed at the Huya Winter Invitational, even in the first contest of the new DPC season against PSG.LGD (1-2) the defeat was excusable, but let's face it, even with those problems, they were still capable of beating the TI10 vice-champions.

Team Aster is one of the youngest Chinese teams, formed in late 2018 and already top of their region. Last season was a mixed bag for the boys. If you judge their results within the Chinese region, they are very cool: vice-champions of the first DPC league, champions of the second DPC league, champions of two seasons of i-League 2021. Not even PSG.LGD can boast such results in China, but Aster played just awful on the international scene: only 9-12 places in the two majors in Singapore and Kyiv, an unsatisfactory result at TI10 as well - 13-16 place. You can look for excuses, they did not perform in the full squad in Singapore, and at TI10, the whole team suffered from coronavirus, but the fact is that no one makes concessions to the top Chinese team.

Something had to be done, and the organisation's bosses made two substitutions in the squad. Ori from Vici Gaming will play as two, and Siamese.C, who spent the last season in the Aster.Aries youth team has arrived as five. And if the first substitution is a reinforcement, the second is ambiguous. Although the five is not the most key position, it's too bad that the young player was quite good during last season. The guys must not rest all the time.

Team Aster once again must go to the top of their region, and this match is a great opportunity to show everyone their worth if the ping is not an insurmountable obstacle for the guys.

The lack of most opponents and their ping game gives VG a real chance to beat their direct rival for a spot in the majors. Realistically evaluating the line-ups, I like Aster better. Still, Vici Gaming's favourite fast style of play that they displayed at the Huya Winter Invitational could bring them a result, at least one map for sure. An easy walk for VG definitely shouldn't be expected, considering that the problematic Aster almost upset PSG.LGD themselves and Vici Gaming should have something to surprise their opponent. But playing fast against the opponent's ping is a real win condition.

It is impossible to call the last season a failure for Vici Gaming: participation in the TI10 and 5-6th place at the end, two bronzes of Chinese DPC leagues and two silver medals of i-League 2021, and well VG showed themselves at the Kyiv major, where the guys became the fourth. Indeed, they didn't win any titles in 2021, and it seems likely that their bosses were influenced to change their line-up. The new squad of Vici Gaming was assembled around poyoyo, who is the only one left from the previous squad.

Newcomers have been added to the good old carry:

Xm is a second position carry who played in EHOME last season and never quite made it.

Irving is an interesting Chinese three. This Chinese player was an important cog in the game of last year's LBZS. He tried out for the elite and triumphed in the second division with them.

Yds. is four who played with CDEC, VG believed in him, so the new team is the most high-profile one he has played with before.

Victoria is another CDEC supporter. He had a lot of nicknames in his career but not cool teams. His arrival at VG is a test and a huge credit to his credibility.

It's hard to predict how this squad will play. The winter championship will be more as a preparatory and previewing one. I don't put these guys in the lead of China, but they shouldn't be out either.

I don't think this game will end 2-0 in anyone's favor, so I recommend paying attention to the odds of 1.91 on Total Over 2.5 maps. VG can win one map on a fast game VG, and Aster even with PSG.LGD gave a fight.

Despite all the problems, I still give preference to the Aster team in this encounter; odds are 1.72.

We can take a chance and bet on the correct score of the meeting 2:1 in favour of Team Aster for 3.10.