PSG.LGD y` Explains Why Chinese Pros Play in SEA Pubs

A common sight during pub games is to see a lot of Chinese professionals playing in Southeast Asia (SEA) pubs, despite the fact that they have dedicated Chinese servers. In the post-match winner’s interview after the win over LBZS, PSG.LGD’s captain/position five player Zhang "y`" Yiping outlined a couple of reasons for this. During mornings and afternoons, y` said it becomes harder to find games on Chinese servers, so SEA servers become their best alternative. Additionally, he cited the larger pool of high ranking players playing in the SEA servers becomes another reason for them playing there.

PSG.LGD y` lists the primary reasons behind Chinese pros playing in SEA servers

During the post-match winner's interview, Dominik "Black^" Reitmeier, a member of the analyst/commentator crew for the China Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) 2020-22 Tour 1, described how he met PSG.LGD's carry Wang "Ame" Chunyu quite a lot when he played on the SEA servers. When asked why Chinese players like Ame choose to play on the SEA server during the interview, y` cited two primary reasons.

“There are many aspects here. Mainly two points. First of all, during the morning and the afternoon, it is harder to find a match in Chinese servers so we prefer to matchmaking on the SEA server. Also, there are more top ranked players in SEA server as well so there are some interesting ideas, some interesting playstyles we want to learn from, that’s why we like to matchmaking in SEA server.”

The two regions tend to borrow ideas from each other when it comes to drafting ideas because they not only compete with each other in ranked matchmaking, but there are also some third-party tournaments where both SEA and Chinese teams participate in. In close proximity to each other, the players from the two regions can play against each other without too much of a negative effect on their ping.

The post-match winner's interview came after PSG.LGD secured its third series win in a row in the China DPC 2021-22 Tour 1. The team continues from where it left off at The International 10 (TI10), looking like the team to beat in Division 1.

Zhang "Faith_bian" Ruida, the offlaner for the team, had said earlier in the week that he was most looking forward to playing Royal Never Give Up (RNG) as they had looked like the best team in scrims. Y` noted that RNG is a strong team, but also pointed out that other Division 1 teams such as EHOME are also quite formidable based on what they had seen in scrims and officials.

“I think it’s not only about RNG. We have been watching other teams play. RNG, EHOME, we watched them play together. I think they are all very strong teams and we have been scrimming with them as well. They are really strong, they know what to do. I am looking forward to every opponent.”

The next series for PSG.LGD in the league will be against RNG on 16th Jan. Even though there will be no Major to play for, both teams will want to win to finish higher and collect more DPC points from the league's share.

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