TI4 champions Newbee crash out of DAC « News

In a sad state of affairs the TI reigning champions Newbee have crashed and burned at the DAC, and even with 2 games left to play, have no way to qualify for the main event. With IceIceIce mentioning in an interview some Chinese players might lose motivation with roster changes pending, could the result at DAC be more than just bad luck?

"Newbee's results were beyond my expectations" - former Newbee captain Xiao8

Newbee have had a disatrous DAC groupstage. They were one of the teams invited for the competition, but with one day left of competition sit rock bottom of the table with only 1 win from 13 matches.

Newbee in the group with 2 games to play

They find themselves tied with MVP Phoenix for last place, and there is no chance of a last hurrah. "Newbee lost to themselves," said BTS commentator Winter after the Chinese team lost to HR in the groupstages with David "LD" Gorman following up with "Newbee living up to their name."

The nail in Newbee's coffin came with their loss to Cloud9 an hour ago, as the Chinese team somehow managed to throw a game they were in complete control of.

Meanwhile all-star caster team Big God enjoyed great success, currently sitting in 3rd place, with former Newbee captain Xiao8 left bemused as to his former team's results in comparsion.

"Newbee's results were beyond my expectations, their results surprised me. Their attitude has some issues, but in terms of ability I know they are better than is," said the $81,000 former Newbee captain Xiao8 in an interview by GosuGamers earlier today. "There could be a lot of factors that got them to this point, but I don't know what they are."

Last year Newbee's road to TI4 victory was remarkable, with the team just one tie-breaker away from elimination in the TI4 groupstages, they managed to pull through to qualify for the third phase of the tournament and ultimately win over $5 million. However, there was no such revival in the DAC, with viewers hopeful for the flash of brilliance that never came.

For many the dip in results are deeply correlated with the performance of Wang "Rabbit" Zhang, initially brought into the the team to fill the void left by Xiao8, but who is a shadow of him former self. That is not to say the team did not enjoy success with their new addition, with $325,000 for first place at the World Cyber Arena back in October, after a 4th at WEC and 8th at i-League.

When DAC ends the imminent Chinese New Year reshuffle beckons, and given their performance at DAC the Newbee line-up may very well go under the axe. Xiao8 talked of a serious return to competition, but would he consider a return to his former team?

Who or what is to blame for Newbee's poor results?

This article was written by

Lawrence Phillips, joinDOTA's Editor-in-Chief.Malystryx has been in eSports since 2004 working as eSports Editor for Razer and was Editor-in-Chief of SK Gaming in its glory days. He misses the days of Warcraft3 but makes do with the world of DOTA 2, although he recently got mesmerised by Hearthstone. Location: Bristol, UKFollow him on @MalystryxGDS.