Cover-Credits:
Following The International 10's (TI10) conclusion, the traditional roster change season is approaching. However, PSG.LGD's general manager, Pan Fei, communicated on Weibo that the current roster will continue to play together for the next Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) season. According to his post, in a meeting held after PSG.LGD lost the grand final at TI10, all team members unanimously decided to stick together for at least one more year. In the post, Fei also emotionally shared his long-standing desire to win TI for the past seven years with a number of PSG.LGD rosters and there was a great deal of effort put in but it was met without much success.
PSG.LGD's general manager reveals the roster will stick together for at least one more year
In the past, we have seen teams that fail to win the Aegis of Champions at TI normally undergoing roster changes soon after the event ends. Following PSG.LGD's unexpected defeat to Team Spirit in the TI10 grand final, there was speculation over whether the Chinese team would continue with the same roster next season.
Fei, the general manager of PSG.LGD, wrote a lengthy post on Weibo to summarise his sentiments and thoughts after having lost the final, but he noted that the roster will stay together for at least one more season. He said that the players unanimously came to this decision.
This is the current PSG.LGD roster, which will continue to play together next season:
Cheng "NothingToSay" Jin Xiang
Wang "Ame" Chunyu
Zhang "Faith_bian" Ruida
Zhao "XinQ" Zixing
Zhang "y`" Yiping
Despite not hoisting the Aegis of Champions at TI10, PSG.LGD had a dominant DPC 2021. It had a slow start in the first regional league when it finished fourth, but then placed third at the Singapore Major 2021, second at the second regional league, and first at the WePlay AniMajor. Furthermore, PSG.LGD appeared to be the Raid Boss in third-party events, where it was too tough to defeat. The result was that PSG.LGD entered TI10 as the heavy favorites but failed to win by losing 3-2 to Team Spirit in the grand final.
After losing, Fei mentioned he was stunned and tears flowed in disappointment. He felt like resigning from his position, having been there since 2015.
In the post, Fei also discussed his experience with PSG.LGD from TI5 to TI10, where despite being very close to lifting the Aegis in most cases, the team was unable to do so. Fei also spoke about how PSG.LGD’s TI8 and TI9 superstar players, Lu "Somnus丶M" Yao (also known as "Maybe") and Xu "fy" Linsen departed after their contracts ended in 2020. Fei explained that to arrive at PSG.LGD’s current roster back then factors like age, maturity, and personal interests, primarily surrounding Dota 2, were taken seriously into consideration.
While PSG.LGD's current five-man group will remain together, it remains to be seen how the remaining Dota 2 rosters will fare in the coming 40 days considering DPC 2022 is reportedly scheduled to begin on 29th Nov 2021.
