RNG.RedPanda shared his views on the how he thinks about the CN Dota scene next year due to COVID, the playstyles of NTS, Somnus and White`Album, as well as the difficulty of being a shot-caller on his stream recently.
China has the highest number of teams in TI10 and some of these teams are favorites to win the $40 million event. Dota 2's International has the biggest prize pool in esports, but was hit hard by the COVID pandemic. After canceling the event last year, Valve had to cancel live in-person attendance at this year's event. TI10 will, however, continue as scheduled, even as some Chinese players have tested positive for COVID.
Fewer Dota teams in China next season
The current situation in The International 10 might discourage new investors to enter the Dota scene, Ru "RedPanda" Zhihao says in a recent stream. He thought we might see few Dota teams in China next year if Valve does not allow teams with COVID positive players to play in the upcoming TI10. The risks are simply way higher than the rewards, especially with COVID being around.
However, multiple sources have claimed that COVID positive players will be allowed to play in isolated rooms.
Lack of Brains and Leaderships in CN - RedPanda
RedPanda mentioned that brains and leaders are very lacking in China right now. Talents like Zhang"xiao8" Ning, Zhang "LaNm" Zhicheng, Yao "357" Yi and Bai "rOtK" Fan are too little in the scene. He also thought that team-oriented Dota is the key right now.
He considered Xie "Super" Junhao from Elephant and the coach, Su "super" Peng, of Invictus Gaming to be capable leaders as well.
Ceb is too Important for OG says RedPanda
While sharing his thoughts about OG, RedPanda thought Sébastien "Ceb" Debs was the key to OG's success. To the extent where he thought OG would be fine if they were to lose Martin "Saksa" Sazdov instead of Ceb. However, it can't be Ceb cause of his incredible value to the team.
This was RedPanda's thought before OG announced that they will be competing with the full roster.
The Three Different yet Classical Midlane Playstyles in China
RedPanda shared his views on the different playstyles of the midlaners in China. He thought that Cheng "NothingToSay" Jin Xiang, Lu "Somnus丶M" Yao and Liu "White丶Album_白学家" Yuhao represent three very different playstyles.
He talked about his former teammate, Somnus first. To him, Somnus likes his teammates to be playing around him and activate him early by providing rune controls, or even harassing the enemy mid player. This helps Somnus to reach his hero's timings comfortably so he could lead the team for some macro plays with that advantage.
He then talked about White`Album_白学家, who was his teammate in SAG back in 2019. To him, White`Album_白学家 farms amazingly fast as a midlaner. He is very efficient in farming especially during the mid game. His is also very detailed when he is playing out the team fights.
This is the main reason why we saw many Magnus, Leshrac, Templar Assassin, Shadow Fiend played by White`Album_白学家 during the DPC seasons. These are the heroes that could make use of White`Album_白学家's strength in farming to the maximum and he has been a big contributor to the team's success.
Lastly, he talked about the 12k MMR star player from PSG.LGD, NothingToSay. To him, NothingToSay is always looking to enable his team. For example, when his teammates have an advantage on their lanes, he will look to help them and snowball the advantage further. He also likes helping his team in a macro sense, like establishing map control. Ori from Vici Gaming is very similar to NothingToSay in this way.
The Difficulty of Being a Shot-caller - RedPanda
Lastly, RedPanda shared his views on how to be a capable and successful shot-caller. First of all, he thought that courage and charisma are very important as they would help gain the trust from the other teammates.
Otherwise, even if a player is given the authority to shot call, without those personalities, one will lose the trust from other teammates after making mistakes, and the performance will spiral down quickly from there.
He believes that the first condition to be a successful shot-caller is to gain trust from other teammates.
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