Coached by a TI6 winner, Team Zero players are the first ones to qualify for TI 2024 in the CN region.
In the recent China Qualifier for The International (TI) 2024, a team named Team Zero claimed victory. They defeated favorites G2 x iG and Azure Ray, becoming the first Chinese team to get the ticket to TI 2024. This will be their first major LAN event since the team was formed. The team resembles Digital Chaos back in 2016 since it's formed by a group of revengers. They are coached by a TI6 winner Zhou "bLink" Yang.
The history of Team Zero
How was Team Zero formed? It all started in 2023 when Lu "Somnus" Yao, Yang "Chalice" Shenyi, and Xu "fy" Linsen decided to return to professional Dota 2. At that time, the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) was still active. The trio’s easiest way back was to buy a Division I slot.
Mr. Yang, the owner of Xtreme Gaming and Ybb Gaming, offered them this opportunity. Thus, around the old LGD trio and with the addition of Lou "Lou" Zhen and Jiang "天命" (TianMing) from Ybb Gaming, they reformed Ybb Gaming into Azure Ray, beginning their journey in China's (CN) DPC.
The remaining three Ybb players, after Mr. Yang brought in Chen "Cty" Tianyu and Li "iceice" Peng along with coach bLink, formed Team Zero. They went through the Open Qualifier and made it to Division II in the DPC CN 2023 Tour 3. The relationships between these teams at the time are shown in the table below:
Role | Ybb Gaming (Original) | Azure Ray (Reformed from Ybb) | Team Zero (New) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Position 1 | lou | lou | Cty (New) |
| Position 2 | 7e | Somnus | 7e |
| Position 3 | Beyond | chalice | Beyond |
| Position 4 | 天命 | fy | iceice (New) |
| Position 5 | zzq | 天命 | zzq |
| Coach | LaNm | bLink |
In early 2024, Cty and iceice left the team, and Yang "Erika" Shaohan and the Singaporean player Remus "ponlo" Goh joined Team Zero. Their current roster is as follows:
- Yang "Erika" Shaohan
- Huang "7e" Heming
- Xiang "Beyond" Zhenghong
- Remus "ponlo" Goh Zhi Xian
- Zhang "zzq" Ziqiang
- Zhou "bLink" Yang (Coach)
Why are they called the revengers?
From Team Zero’s history, we know that 7e, Beyond, and zzq failed to join the restructured Azure Ray. That is to say, they faced the chosen ones, Azure Ray, in the Upper Bracket Final of this TI qualifier.
Role | Azure Ray | Team Zero |
|---|---|---|
| Pos 1 | lou | Erika |
| Pos 2 | Ori | 7e |
| Pos 3 | Faith_bian | Beyond |
| Pos 4 | fy | ponlo |
| Pos 5 | 天命 | zzq |
| Coach | LaNm | bLink |
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Team Zero carry: Erika/poyoyo
Team Zero’s carry player, Erika, formerly known as poyoyo from Vici Gaming, is also a revenger. He has some beef with fy, the soft support in Azure Ray. After Azure Ray called "gg" in the TI2024 qualifier, Erika tipped fy and spammed question marks.
Back in the DPC CN 2023 Tour 2: Division I, Erika and fy played together on Vici Gaming, but the team performed poorly. Rumors say that after a match against LGD, there was tension because fy saved himself instead of Erika’s Drow Ranger in the Roshan pit. This led to a dispute, and Erika left the team overnight. In the later part of that DPC season, Jin "flyfly" Zhiyi replaced Erika. Due to their poor performance, VG dropped to Division II, and eventually forfeited their Tour 3 spot. The squad then disbanded.
After Erika all-chatted multiple question marks, his former teammate Zhou "Yang" Haiyang asked him why. Erika sarcastically responded, mocking Yang for playing mahjong with fy at that time.
Soft support: ponlo
Team Zero's position 4 player, ponlo, has been playing the game professionally for 10 years. He's bounced around Southeast Asia (SEA), North America (NA), Europe (EU), and CN, but has never qualified for a single TI.
A TI6 winner coach: bLink
As for Team Zero's coach bLink, he won TI 2016 with Wings Gaming alongside Zhang "Faith_bian" Ruida, who is now playing for Azure Ray. After TI6, their champion roster left Wings Gaming for various reasons and formed Team Random. At that time, there was a league in China called ACE. Rumors say that because they left the team without following proper procedures, the TI6 champions would be banned from some events, leading to a known meme in China "GTMDACE," meaning "F**k you ACE." However, drama arose soon after Team Random's formation. Faith_bian and Zhang "y`" Yiping left Team Random without informing their teammates and joined EHOME.
After Faith_bian and y` left, iceice wrote a famous post titled "Shameless Teammates." Shadow criticized the duo on his Weibo. Meanwhile, bLink retired due to a hand injury. Whether bLink and Faith_bian have any beef stays unknown, but memes persist. Team Zero’s victory over Azure Ray to qualify for TI 2024 was true revenge for the Team Zero members.
What's the next step for Team Zero?
Team Zero will participate in the Elite League Season 2 China Qualifier from June 24 to June 26. They will also attend an invitational tournament in Hebei, China, hosted by a new organizer in late July. Further details about this event are not yet fully disclosed. After that, they will attend TI in Copenhagen this September.
Stay tuned to esports.gg and our Dota 2 section for more upcoming news!
