ESL One Berlin Major will witness a very rare occurrence in the professional scene where a top Chinese team will compete with a non-Chinese-speaking player.
Syed "SumaiL" Hassan will be standing in for Zhai "Xwy" Jingkai, who according to a Team Aster post on Weibo, has become “inactive for the time being.” Xwy was transferred from Aster.Aries to the main team ahead of the current Dota Pro circuit year. He played with them through both seasons of DPC regional leagues and the Lima Major. He was even in the team’s bootcamp from Serbia this month and played at the DreamLeague Season 19. However, during the first group stage at DreamLeague unofficial reports stated that he was kicked from the team even before Aster got eliminated.
Team Aster has been rather vague in its official announcement regarding SumaiL stepping in for the upcoming Berlin Major, stating only that this is a “temporary change.” No additional reasoning has been provided in the announcement and it is unclear if Xwy will return for the thirds and final tour of the DPC.
While the Spring Tour ended with an abysmal record for SumaiL’ team, Nigma Galaxy getting once again relegated to Division II, Team Aster are now set to return on the Major stage after a top 8 finish in the Winter Tour at the Lima Major.
The regional league in the Spring Tour didn’t go as well as the previous one for them, this time around barely securing a ticket to the major with their 4th place finish. The early exit from DreamLeague S19 is another worrisome signal for Team Aster, who usually are regarded as one the strongest teams from their region.
ESL One Berlin Major is set to begin on the 26th of April which gives Aster and SumaiL fairly two weeks to practice together and figure out how they will overcome the language barrier to ensure a playoff presence at the second major of the year.
headline picture credits: Helena Kristiansson|ESLOne
