Elephant. Something went wrong

The Elephant has brought together the most famous eSports stars in China. They had Somnus and fy who were top 2-3 in previous TIs. And the best Chinese carry of 2019, which has shown incredible micro in past DPC seasons. Yang, who has won several Majors with VG. And the dota mastodon - Super, who has been top 3 at TI since 2014. All players were masters and almost every one of them was on the verge of taking the aegis. Analysts predicted a resounding success for the team. But it was all before The International 10. So what went wrong and most importantly when?

Initially Elephant.4AM, that name was a year ago, was conceived as a team of super-stars of the Chinese Dota 2 scene.

Even before the start of the official games, fans were anticipating spectacular games with their participation. However, the troubles began from the very beginning. Sylar left the team immediately.

Then was transfer problem with Eurus from Vici Gaming. As a result of internal disagreements, Elephant and 4AM ended their cooperation, and the conflict with VG was settled.

The updated roster took part in four Chinese tournaments at the end of the year: CDA-FDC Professional Championship Season 1-2, China Dota2 Pro Cup Season 2 and OGA Dota PIT Season 4: China. The team took first place in the last two tournaments. In total, before the start of the DPC season, the players earned a total of almost $95,000. Good start.

The team's performance during the first DPC season was, frankly, strange. Often, players didn't play as a team, sometimes winning only on an individual skill.

In the first DPC season, the team had a chance to go to ONE Esports Singapore Major 2021. But in the match for a Wild Card, the Elephant roster lost to the familiar PSG.LGD tag in which few people believed. After all, stars played in the Elephant, and then-unknown NothingToSay and XINQ, who had previously played for EHOME in regional Chinese tournaments and was top 12 at TI 2018, played in the newly formed LGD.

At the end of the season, it was obvious that the team needed changes and was missing something. All the players acted a little selfishly, more individually. Some leader was needed, whose authority would be unshakable. Someone who would have a lot of experience and point out the necessary vector to the players. The coach Bai «rOtK» Fan became such a person.

In the second season of DPC, despite the reinforcement of the roster by the coach, nothing changed. The team failed to qualify for WePlay AniMajor. The only thing left for the team is to compete in the regional qualifiers for a trip to The International 10.

Prior to the regional qualifiers, there was a transfer between Elephant and Royal Never Give Up. The teams exchanged their 5th position players. RedPanda was transferred for Super, and already with the updated rosters, the teams were preparing for the qualifiers.

The fact is that all the strongest teams in China made it to TI10 with enough DPC points. This means that there are practically no rivals left in the struggle for the last slot in the main tournament of the year.

But despite this, the team still had to try. The first problem was the RNG, which was sent by Elephant to the lower bracket with some problems. But then EHOME players were waiting for them, who made the star squad play one extra game series before the Grand Final of qualifiers.

Elephant pissed off. And, after an easy victory over Team MagMa, they again faced their offenders. This time the meeting ended with the score 3:1 in favor of Elephant.

However, before going to TI10, the team needed to prepare more thoroughly. i-League 2021 Season 1-2 and OGA Dota PIT Season 5: China tournaments have become an excellent training arena for the roster. It was not always possible to play well, but some progress gave hope for the best.

In the tournament Elephant had to face the best teams from all over the world, after almost a year playing in the games within their region.

Despite the successful first day of the group stage, the Chinese team's further games raised many questions.

Elephant is a roster of high skills stars. However, players and their coach could understand one thing - Dota 2 has changed. Yes, you have an individual skill, but the game has become more team-based.

They really did manage to win, especially when the match went according to their planned scenario. And it works against weak and inexperienced teams. Occasionally, this could work against more serious opponents, when it was possible to gain an advantage in early game and push until the end.

But the further Elephant played, the more obvious their problems with team play became. Everyone tried to play for themselves, everyone tried to drag the team, everyone was a star. But as mentioned above, everything has changed. And the players of the old school, simply because of the lack of understanding of this, could not do anything against the teamplay.

The Chinese team was actually saved from eliminating the tournament by SG esports, who finished last in the group with a score of 1-0-7. Now Elephant had to fight for survival in the Bo1 elimination match against two-time finalists of two last majors - Evil Geniuses.

EG had similar problems in teamplay sometimes, but Elephant lost that match and finished their performance at The International 10. The lack of teamplay against the background of individual skill, incomprehensible and unorganized actions on the map - the reason for the team's defeat, as in this match, and in all previous ones.

During the last interview, rOtK apologized to all fans for such results. Despite everything, he was unable to help the team get better. He was unable to organize the players. And most importantly, as a coach, he was unable to outplay opponents at the draft stage. And, perhaps, it was only at that moment that he realized all the mistakes. But it was too late. Result: 13th-16th place at TI10 for the team that seemed to be one of the strongest on paper.

After the end of the tournament, rumors spread that the team will disband. Allegedly, Team Aster and other Chinese organizations are interested in some Elephant players to buy.

The first to officially respond to such messages was a representative of the Chinese company and tournament organizer ImbaTV, Hai Ta:

The Elephant manager, Dong «Hide» Hang, reacted to such rumors:

However, it is already obvious to absolutely everyone that the team needs changes. The roster of Dota 2 stars has not justified itself due to changes in the game in recent years. And if you do not try to change something and end the season with the same results or even worse, then the fans will not forgive this to the coach or players.

We are left with the hope that some of the best players in China will again find those rosters where they can fully reveal themselves. And they will please us once again with a great game.