PPD Praises NothingToSay and Says PSG.LGD Won’t Be Favourites at TI Without Him

PSG.LGD has earned itself the reputation as the top favorite for winning The International 10 (TI10) due to their impressive performances in recent months. Cheng "NothingToSay" Jin Xiang, the team’s midlaner, has been unable to compete with the team recently due to travel issues, and as The International 10 (TI10) rolls around, there are doubts regarding his ability to join his team in time. If NothingToSay is not able to do so, TI5 winner, Peter "PPD" Dager believes that PSG.LGD would no longer be the top favorite to win TI10. NothingToSay is a critical component of PSG.LGD's roster and the team drafts and plays around him, PPD further elaborated in a series of tweets.

PPD talks about the importance of NothingToSay at PSG.LGD

NothingToSay's recent performances in the midlane have gained him huge popularity and he is being hailed as one of the best players in the world right now. PSG.LGD may have continued to do well in the two international events in which it participated in the last few months without NothingToSay, but many believe that the team would be better off at TI10 with the Malaysian player on the playing roster.

According to PPD, PSG.LGD might still finish in the top five, but they cannot be the frontrunner to win the TI without their midlaner. As PPD explained, NothingToSay plays the midlane greedily, while his team members play around him to help him fully utilize this playstyle.

PPD also assessed that Zhang "Faith_bian" Ruida and Wang "Ame" Chunyu, the other two cores of the team, build their items in a way that keeps them in their respective lanes for as long as possible. In turn, this lets NothingToSay achieve his full potential. PPD also compared NothingToSay’s carry-like playstyle from the midlane to those of some other prominent players.

It is interesting to note that Syed Sumail "SumaiL" Hassan, PPD's former teammate at Evil Geniuses, expressed a contrasting opinion about NothingToSay's importance at PSG.LGD. While PPD notes that the Malaysian midlaner has a role that is "not easy to fill," SumaiL told this Twitch audience in a livestream that NothingToSay is the most "replaceable" player on the roster. “Dude, it might just be me but I feel like PSG.LGD can have any of the top 10 mid players right now and they would still stomp,” SumaiL opined.

Zhang "xiao8" Ning, PSG.LGD's coach, is currently competing as a stand-in in place of NothingToSay and the team has the grand final of the Sapphire OGA Dota Pit Invitational scheduled on 11th Sept, 2021 against Team Spirit. This is most likely the last Dota 2 tournament before TI10 that PSG.LGD will compete in.