TI 6 Team Preview: VG.Reborn

The disappointing performances of the Chinese teams on home turf at The Shanghai Major prompted changes across all major Dota 2 organizations in the region. VG were one of the teams which didn’t do well and this led to the reformation of most of their roster, along with the creation of a new subdivision.

Vici_Gaming Reborn were formed as an alternative to the main Vici Gaming roster. The first step taken was to select the most promising talent from the abundance of players available in the Vici Gaming Potential division. The chosen two were Yang “Zyf” Pu and Zhou “Yang” Haiyang. Meanwhile star man Xu “Fy” Linsen was added from the main squad. Wang “Nono” Xin from CDEC.Avenger and Leong “DDC” Fat-meng from LGD were the last two signings to complete the current lineup.

 

Roster:

Yang “Zyf” Pu – position 1
Wang “Nono” Xin – position 2
Zhou “Yang” Haiyang – position 3
Xu “Fy” Linsen – position 4
Leong “DDC” Fat-meng – position 5

Tong “Mikasa” Junjie – Coach/Sub

 

2016 achievements:

StarLadder i-League Invitational – 1^st

Dota2 Professional League Season 1 – 3^rd

 

Current form:

July – 50.0% win rate (6 wins, 2 draws, 4 losses)

 

Top 5 most picked heroes this month:

 

Top 5 most banned heroes this month:

 

Although they are officially the second team of the VG organization, they are their TI 6 representative and are performing much better than the main team at present. After their formation, VG.Reborn managed to win a Premier event in less than a month, denying an inspired Na’Vi playing on home turf to win the StarLadder i-League Invitational. They not only won, but they did so without Nono, who was absent due to visa issues, with his role being filled by Mikasa more than adequately.

The most renowned player in the squad is Fy. Also known as the F-God in the Dota 2 community, the 2014 rookie of the year has spent his entire pro gaming career as a Vici Gaming player. He was instrumental in the StarLadder success by both outdrafting and outplaying Na’Vi in the Grand Finals. Last year he made miracle plays with his legendary Rubick during TI 5 when playing for the main team, but Fy has mostly played Elder Titan this month (6 games – 66.67% win rate). He is also one of the players who brought Riki back to life and pretty much pushed him forward in the meta.

Prior to StarLadder, Wang “Nono” Xin was one of the best performers of the team, but VG proved that they can play well without him when he was denied a visa for the tournament. His performance dropped for a while after that, but he has upped his game recently.

Zyf (also known as END) is considered a top Chinese Carry, although he does not get as much attention as players like Newbee’s Hao. Formerly a Carry with a rather small hero pool, he has improved a lot in this regard throughout 2016, playing 15 different heroes over the last six months.

Mikasa is one of the oldest players on the Dota 2 scene at the age of 29, but he proved he still has what it takes when stepping in for the team when Nono was denied a visa for StarLadder. He played a Carry role there and did well, but now he will have to be an Offlaner as Yang will not be able to attend TI 6 due to another rejected visa.

VG.Reborn have plenty of talent in their roster, as well as experience. Again their lineup will be altered due to visa issues and the team will have to adjust to this. Mikasa proved his reliability in what was a major upset at StarLadder in Kyiv, but the chances of this happening on the TI 6 stage are much lower. Nevertheless, VG.Reborn should not be written off too quickly.