Elephant and EHOME Get Opening Wins in TI10’s China qualifier

Elephant and EHOME, the two favorites to win TI10’s China qualifier, opened their tournament campaigns with 2-0 victories. While Elephant completely dominated Team MagMa in both games, EHOME did not look very comfortable on either occasion against Aster.Aries. Aster.Aries offered tough resistance and even had a humongous lead in the second game but it could not pull through. Elephant and EHOME progress to the next upper bracket round of TI10’s China qualifier where they will face Royal Never Give Up and Sparking Arrow Gaming respectively.

Elephant overwhelms Team MagMa in TI10’s China qualifier

Elephant proved too much of a challenge for the members of Team MagMa.

In the first match, Elephant simply outfarmed their opponents resulting in an easy victory. Team MagMa could never engage in a 5v5 teamfight, so the game ended without much action. With a favorable scoreline of 15-9, Elephant won in 35 minutes.

From the very beginning of the second match, MagMa was outperformed. Elephant's cores became significantly stronger than their counterparts as a result of their early game advantage. MagMa lost the match and the series at 37 minutes after losing a final teamfight.

EHOME scrapes through Aster.Aries in TI10’s China qualifier

In the final series of the first day, EHOME took on Aster.Aries. According to many, this should have been a straightforward matchup for EHOME, which has a vastly superior lineup. They won, but it was not as easy as many had hoped.

Aster.Aries consistently killed enemy heroes in the first game with some awesome early game moves. Yet there was a looming Medusa issue as the hero was quietly farming the map. At 30 minutes, the game was even, but Sylar's Medusa proved too much for the opponents, as EHOME won in 46 minutes with an even score of 27-27.

During the second game, Aster.Aries had a push heavy draft consisting of a mid Templar Assassin and a safelane Luna. More than 13k ahead and two Barracks secured, they were on the verge of victory. However, Aster.Aries had a challenging time finishing the game. A number of teamfights were close, and in the end, the players appeared to be desperate to win without having buybacks. This move by Aster.Aries backfired as EHOME mounded a comeback, winning the game in 56 minutes.

In the other two upper bracket series in TI10’s China qualifier, Royal Never Give Up defeated LBZS 2-0, and Sparking Arrow Gaming reverse swept Phoenix Gaming 2-1 to continue their upper bracket runs.

Out of 16 DPC teams, only 10 are competing in the China qualifier, as four of them - Team Aster, PSG.LGD, Invictus Gaming, and Vici Gaming - received direct invites to TI10. Demon Slayer and Dragon were disqualified for using authorized stand-ins during the DPC.