Team Aster on being the last Chinese Team at TI: "No Pressure"

Team Aster doesn't feel any pressure at being the last Chinese team at The International 2022, although they do think it was unexpected.

In years past, the West and the East traded championships in The International, with odd years won by Western teams while the even years won by Eastern teams. This changed in 2018, when OG won The International against PSG.LGD. Since then, the Aegis has evaded Chinese teams. But today, Team Aster is in a position to change this, as the lone Chinese team in the Top 4 heading to the Dota 2 The International Grand Finals.

Today, during a media scrum with the teams, Team Aster shared their thoughts heading into the grandest stage of them all.

On whether they feel any pressure at all for carrying the entire country on their back, being the last Chinese team in TI, the team assures fans that they feel no pressure at all, but that they did find the situation rather unexpected. To be specific, the team thought that at the very least, PSG.LGD would also be there with them in the Grand Finals. PSG.LGD was eliminated by Team Aster on the final day of the Playoffs last Sunday.

As for individual players, this International is 皮球‘s first TI, but the position 5 support says that he doesn't feel any pressure either. He shared the advice that his teammates gave him during this time: that he shouldn't feel pressured or feel afraid to play in any way other than the way he wants to play – don't think about anything that could distract you from the game. So far, that advice has done the team a lot of good, considering that they've reached this point of the grandest stage of Dota 2.

On whether or not they feel that Chinese Dota is dying and that the newer players can't replace the retiring old guard, Monet says that in the big picture, that's fairly true, as the younger generation of gamers in China have been more into mobile games, so the number of players in China is declining. However, Monet also believes that if these players would be willing to put their time and effort into Dota 2, there's definitely a place for them there in the Chinese Dota 2 scene.

Team Aster will be facing Team Liquid in the lower bracket semi-finals on Saturday for a bid to secure $1.5 million and a third-place finish.