Photo courtesy of Julmust
Team Aster make some bold moves ahead of the first Major of the new season.
After a disappointing run at TI8 for most of the Chinese teams, many of the players have decided to try something new and break free of the traditional org contracts that have been dominant the last few years. Team Aster took some of the most notable players from various teams for a shot at something more this season.
Shortly after forming, Team Aster was able to pull things together in enough time to take the third slot for the Kuala Lumpur Major. The team had a solid group stage, going 4:2 (winning both of their series) to claim the top spot in their group. Their run in the playoff brackets was much more difficult and longer, dropping to the lower bracket in the first round of the upper brackets and persevering through to third place.
They then qualified for ESL One Hamburg 2018 and had another incredible run in the groups, dropping only one match in the entire stage and topping their group once again with a 9:1 record. Unfortunately, once again in the playoffs, the team struggled. Again they dropped to the lower brackets in the first round of the upper brackets and were eliminated right away by paiN Gaming 2:1.
Now it seems that Team Aster has made a bold decision to bench one of their players despite the 40% point deduction per the new DPC rules.
Can a team play with subs?
Yes. During qualifiers, a team must play with at least 4 of its 5 registered players (this will cause no penalty). Any team that plays the LAN portion of a tournament with a sub will incur a 40% penalty on points earned from that tournament.
Deng "Dstones" Lei will not be on hand at the event and seems that Gao "loveyouloveme" Yuan from FTD will fill his shoes in Malaysia.
In addition, Fu "Q" Bin, most known to many from his time in CDEC, taking 2nd place at TI5 will be assuming the coach position in preparation for the first Major of the new season.
Team Aster roster:
LLiu "Sylar" Jiajun
Deng "Dstones" Lei
Lin "Xxs" Jing
Ye "BoBoKa" Zhibiao
Lu "Fenrir" Chao
