TI5 Preview: Top Asian Teams
Most western players, myself included, have hard time keeping track of all the personalities in the Asian teams, especially given how transfer-heavy this year was. Despite that, the Asian contenders have consistently done well in the internationals and it would be a shame to go into the event without at least basic knowledge about the players.
Today we will have a look at the top teams from the region: LGD, VC and IG. As usually, the most Picked/Banned heroes of the team in the last 6 months can be found in the spoilers. Without further ado - Top Asian Teams<!--END_PREVIEW-->:
The current squad consists of the Chinese veterans of all sorts and it certainly shows. The team dominates the Asian scene and shows consistently good results in the International tournaments.
Their 6 months statistics show an impressive 62% Win Rate in Premium-class tournaments but it is definitely outshone by their 6.84b performance - a 75% Win Rate across 50 matches, all of which were in the Premium tier.
They also have one of the most stable rosters with the newest players joining in March, hence they had almost 5 full months to train as a team. Given that most of these players have played together at one point or another, it makes for a rather dominant squad.
Sylar - Vici Gaming's star carry has been under the radar for Western players until the previous International where he has shown that the Chinese Dota can be very aggressive. This aggressiveness is definitely calculated though, since not only is he the record holder for the lowest average amount of deaths per match, but is also in the Top 10 for GPM statistics in 6.84 (a-c). His most played heroes in this patch are
Gyrocopter, 
Juggernaut and 
Tiny, however historically he is probably best known for his 
Morphling plays.Maybe - is very little known mid player who is relatively new to the scene, but only in comparison to his current teammates. Despite that he has already proved his strength, sharing the top spot for the least average deaths in the patch with his teammate, as well as actually surpassing him in the GPM and Kill count statistics. His current top picks are
Shadow Fiend, 
Dragon Knight and 
Storm Spirit. With DK he has a 100% Win Rate across 11 games - something I find very interesting, given how non-meta the pick is.Yao - dedication through and through - this player has been in LGD since pretty much its creation and has never left the roster. The results speak for itself, given that the team has consistently been one of the top in China and internationally. The player is known for his high versatility and it is not uncommon for him to switch the roles when the roster requires him to do so. Currently playing in the offlane, his top picks include
Clockwerk, 
Dark Seer and 
Tusk.xiao8 - one of the best known Chinese players in the West. He has proved himself to be one of the best captains/coordinators in the last international by figuring out and adapting to the new meta faster than any other team. Previously an offlane player, he currently is a soft-support for his team, playing aggressive heroes such as
Lina, 
Crystal Maiden and 
Earthshaker. He also plays an occasional 
Bounty Hunter, so the offlane spirit has not completely faded away.MMY! - a hard support with a history. He was a part of the dominant EHOME TI1 squad and TI4 DK squad, now coming strong into TI5. His hero selection is similar to the one of Kuroky, with
Rubick, 
Io and 
Visage taking the top spots. And while his stats might not be as impressive, compared to the support of Team Secret, he still deserves recognition, especially given how Chinese Dota still remains more carry-oriented, compared to a more "balanced" gold distribution approach many Western teams are currently implementing.
Vici Gaming is the team that came up with the terribly effective deathball strat from TI4. While not being exactly new, their execution of that strategy was nearly perfect up until the underwhelming grand finals and they have remained strong this year, despite losing their star captain - rOtk.
After acquiring Black^ and iceiceice - some of the most recognisable players in their respective role, they dominated Chinese scene for the first half of mid-Internationals season, before parting ways with their only non-Asian player to acquire a TI4 winner - Hao. Their performance after that cannot be called lacklustre, with them still being a strong team, however they are not exactly coming into this TI as favourites.
They are also the team who generally has 2 position 5 supports, making them have the highest gold discrepancy between their cores and their supports in 6.84 Dota 2.
Hao - The Winner of TI4 and the second best farmer in this patch. This farm, however, rarely translates into victories and/or even KDA stats, despite him being described as "very aggressive" by the Chinese community. To a certain degree it can be attributed to a relatively weak performance on his top hero -
Phantom Lancer. His other heroes include Gyrocopter and 
Leshrac. Super - one of the newer players in the scene, he was quickly recognised by Team DK, leading to a strong 4th place performance in TI2. Skipping a year, he has gone into TI4 as a part of the Star squad under the command of rOtk to get the second place. This year his performance could be considered relatively weaker, but he remains one of the better Chinese mid players with solid performances on
Shadow Fiend, 
Invoker and Dragon Knight.iceiceice - he had a long path to fame, starting his career back in 2006. Taking a break from competitive scene in the aftermath of TI2, he returned to TI4 alongside Burning, Mushi, MMY! and LaNm as one of the tournaments favourites - the dominant Team DK squad. A former recognised mid player he is currently playing in the offlane position to an arguably even greater success, as his
Timbersaw and Clockwerk plays always deserved a highlight. His current top picks include 
Tidehunter, 
Broodmother and 
Undying. He is currently considered to be the best Broodmother player, however, as he claims himself, no one, himself included, is even close to reaching the skill ceiling on the hero.Fenrir - one of the newer players in the scene who has been a part of the Vici Gaming since the very beginning. His performance rarely makes for highlights, however he is still a very solid support player, despite him having the lowest average level at the end of the game and the second lowest XPM in the 6.84 patch. His current top picks are
Witch Doctor, 
Lion and 
Vengeful Spirit.fy - a relatively young player who is leading the current roster. He certainly does not lack personal skill yet his general stats look really poor compared to the other supports. As been noted, the team has a very top-heavy gold distribution, possibly leading to a poorer performance of them as a whole. His heroes of choice are
Io, Lion and 
Disruptor with a frequent Bounty Hunter pick.
A consistently top Chinese team with a relatively stable roster. After Winning TI2, they had a rather tough time in the coming two years, but they definitely have a lot of chances this time around, given they currently have some of the strongest core players not only in China, but worldwide.
The current squad has been playing since March, with many players having experience together previously. So far their performance seems rather underwhelming, given the players, as they consistently finish in the 5-6 positions in the tournaments and have a measly 51% Win Rate in the last 6 months.
Burning - the original Chinese Dota God. This patch, however, he barely makes Top 10 farmers and is nowhere to be seen when it comes to game contribution statistics, except for Tower Damage. His current top picks includes
Gyrocopter, Phantom Lancer and Leshrac.Ferrari_430 - the fame of this player in his mid role is easily comparable to the fame of Burning as a carry. The "pianist" nickname from the Chinese community certainly does not come for free and he is known as one of the best
Invoker players in the world. This patch, however, is better suited for different type of heroes, hence his current top picks are Shadow Fiend, 
Queen of Pain and Storm Spirit. His stats in this patch are rather mediocre, which can be attributed to a an unsuitable for him as a player meta, yet he is the 3rd least dying pro player in the patch.Luo - a relatively unknown player who has captained several teams throughout his competitive history. Currently playing in the offlane he has a very poor performance on
Broodmother, despite her being one of his top picks. His other top heroes include 
Spirit Breaker, Tusk and Dark Seer. Chuan - a well-known Malaysian player, he has built his fame as one of the best micro-control players in the world, with great support performances on
Chen, 
Enchantress and even 
Meepo. His current top picks features Chen, Rubick, Witch Doctor and Io, making for a very versatile player. His playstyle is generally really aggressive, with lots of flashy plays and he can not be considered a good "babysitter", instead trying to create action on the map.Faith - a second part of the aggressive support duo. Of all Dota player, Faith actually has the lowest number of denies, generally due to his absence in the lane and pressure on the map. His current top picks reflect this mentality, with a ganking squad of
Rubick and Lion, as well as Undying, who is not necessarily a great ganker, but is not exactly the best lane partner in a trilane vs. solo offlane situation.
Эх,сейчас бы на русском почитать...(
English pls comrade
"Chuan - another well-known Chinese player"
He's not Chinese, right?
Nice overview, thank you! Will be glad to read more!
Chuan- He is Chinese from Malaysia. Same to Mushi and Ohaiyo
Malaysians is Malaysians, not all the people who speak chinese or look like a chinese equal to chinese.
Chinese is a race. Chuan is chinese, his nationality is Malaysia.
Where to find the details for "best farmer" this patch (as mentioned above) ?
hmm i bet you haven't seen a lot of fy games. u even missed out his scary sandking 4th role.
ready to watch T15.........GL all of u...enjoying the show
How can you call Maybe a 'very little known mid player'???? Nearly every game LGD has played, Maybe has been top of the networth and constantly been relevant throughout the games he has played with LGD...
chinese is an ethnicity, he's a malaysian citizen, he was born in malaysia - he's malaysian. just because he can speak chinese doesnt mean that he is chinese.
@Frank Semyon He means he was unknown before he came to LGD. He's only been playing in the pro scene for less than a year now, which is minuscule compared to the other pros.
not bed
CDEDC is 2nd team in China
ASian is race. Chinese is nationality
iG 3rd? srsly, newbee, cdec, ehome, all of them are currently better!