Team Serenity have taken the first Chinese TI8 qualifier spot after besting Invictus Gaming 2:1.
A little-known team from China has taken the Chinese TI8 regional qualifiers by storm. After a stellar performance in the group stage, ending in the second place seed with a 5:2 record, the dark horse team then went on to knock down two of the event favorites.
In a pretty convincing 2:0 sweep Team Serenity threw LFY into the lower brackets. Aggressive, dominant team fights let Team Serenity come out on top each time. Moving into the upper bracket finals they were initially clobbered by Invictus Gaming in a dismal first game. Regaining their composure with swagger and confidence, they then moved forward to close out the series with a reverse sweep in two very convincing and exciting matches.
With 2 TI8 spots total up for grabs in China iG and LFY both have another shot at attending the big event tomorrow.
For many watching around the world, the team is reminiscent of Wings Gaming with their unconventional drafts, aggressive playstyle and carving out their own future without any regard to the meta or expectations.
The team first appeared in the Chinese pro circuit in September 2017 when they participated in the ESL One Hamburg Chinese qualifiers after gaining their spot from the open qualifiers. Although they took a non-eventful 9-12th place, they continued to participate in the DPC open qualifiers and managed to find places within multiple regional events. The best they were able to accomplish in the regional qualifiers was 6-7th place for the China SuperMajor.
Taking a spot in the first TI8 Chinese Open Qualifiers, the team made one more effort to find a place in the region —one that paid off in multiples as they have now qualified for the pinnacle of all Dota 2 events.
With all of the buzz surrounding their recent performances, many eyes will be on them to see if they can be the next CDEC (of TI5 2nd place fame) or Wings Gaming (of TI6 champions fame) coming out from China.
Team Serenity roster:
Jin "zhizhizhi" Zhiyi
Zhang "Zyd" Quanda
Zhao "XinQ" Zixing
Xiong "Pyw" Jiahan
Xiao "XCJ" Chaojian
