Cover-Credits:
Perfect World via @ESGO_DOTA2
EHOME kicked off the 2023 Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) season with a clean victory over household name Invictus Gaming. With the off-season coming to the end, many are excited to see new rosters and teams making their professional debut in the regional leagues. The first region to have the honor of officiating the 2023 season would be China, with its first set of matches being played today.
While Invictus Gaming returned to Division I after being demoted last year, EHOME were looking to make a statement with its newest roster at the start of the season.
EHOME vs Invictus Gaming: Match recap and highlights
Recap
While EHOME had recently played in the BTS Pro Series S13, its lackluster performances during the online tournament saw many viewers rooting towards the newly established IG roster.
Game One
The early game was fairly quiet, as core heroes from both sides were fully focused on hitting their item timings while also trading kills. However despite the quiet laning phase, EHOME had the better strategy as they took down all of IG’s outer towers by the 20th minute mark.
Despite Zhou "Emo" Yi’s best efforts to turn things around for his team with Chaos Knight, EHOME’s duo core lineup of Wong "mks" Sim An’s Wraith King and Pan "Night" Shuaifang’s Dragon Knight proved too much even for IG to defend against.
Game One ended after just over 32 minutes, with EHOME having a fairly comfortable win against its opponent.
Game Two
The early game once again was fairly equal between both teams, as both sides kept trading kills in the early stages of the game.
Going into the mid-game, Invictus Gaming saw an opportunity to extend their lead with Emo’s Monkey King and Zhou "Dust" Shiyuan’s Batrider leading the charge. However, the late game saw EHOME turning things around with Lee "X1aOyU" Qian Yu’s Legion Commander and mks’s Nature’s Prophet as they dominated the opposition.
Despite IG’s best efforts to defend its base once again, the team tapped out after 39 minutes as it admitted defeat on its debut match while also giving EHOME its first win of the tour.
Following the match, EHOME are currently top of the table of the Chinese regional league in Division I. However, with the season just starting today it will be interesting to see whether EHOME can keep its form as the season progresses.
As for Invictus Gaming, they will have to improve the chemistry between players as well as drafting strategies should they wish to stay in Division I by the end of the first tour.
