Despite the shortages of upset in the Chinese regional qualifiers for TI, one team has managed to secure its first LAN at The International 2024 as Team Zero has qualified, becoming the first team to secure qualification through that stage.
Team Zero didn’t have to wait till Thursday as they did their job on Wednesday to know their lot. The second Chinese slot will be decided between four teams.
Team Turtle will face Azure Ray and face the winner of G2.IG and the winner of the second slot will be decided on Thursday.
Team Zero is not the most popular of teams on the esports scene, but they have managed to achieve this feat thanks to the likes Ponlo and zzq. They both helped the team to fight through every single series with a 2-1 victory every single time.
Despite roughing their way through, they struggled in the opening minutes of the final game against Azure Ray, suffering a 9-1 kills rate against themselves and at a significant gold disadvantage.
However, Azure didn’t secure all they needed to win from that vantage point, especially not sorting Erica’s Drow Ranger early on, where they could have farm her up and right-click the enemy into oblivion. Some well-played Overgrowths from Treant Protector countered the Black Hole and Sunder combination from Azure Ray, leaving them discombobulated.
The result is a huge improvement and development for Chinese Dota which has been looking for an epic comeback for some time. They will be hoping that this new result will help them knock Europe out of their multi-year win streak.
Team Zero’s Ponlo, while speaking in a post-match interview expressed his excitement for qualifying for The International, saying that it was an important progress for his career his own.
“You have to be so introspective to be a pro Dota player…it’s your own life, your own career, you just do what you want,” Ponlo said.
