The 2022 Dota Pro Circuit wasn’t a memorable one for the Chinese region. Despite having a team in the finals in seven of the 10 The International events, Chinese participants failed to break into the top three at TI11. While underdogs like Aster failed to rise to the occasion, big names like Vici and Invictus Gaming failed to show presence which called for roster changes.
Going into the 2023 DPC season, everyone except for Zhou “Emo” Yi is out of IG. The former members of the squad had been with the organization for a long time, as Xu “fy” Linsen was the only player who joined the team in 2022. A complete rebuild of IG introduced Zhou “Dust” Shiyuan, Li “Irving” Jian, Wilson “poloson” Koh, and Cui “qyqx” Chenyang.
While poloson will be moving to the Chinese region from SEA’s Team SMG, the remaining three spent the majority of the 2022 DPC season in division two with Team Magma.
As IG bid farewell to two-time TI runner-up fy, Vici welcomed its former legend with open arms to a roster centered around Yang “Erika” Shaohan, Zhou “Yang” Haiyang, and Li “niu” Kongbo. Alongside fy, Gao “Setsu” Zhenxiong joined Vici, he was on the inactive roster of Royal Never Give Up prior to the move.
Considering these two organizations have been at the peak of the Dota 2 mountain for quite a while, a disappointing season called for drastic changes. Both organizations are going into the new season with high hopes, and only time will tell whether they have what it takes to challenge the rest of the world.
