DPC China Division 1 - Invictus Gaming vs Royal Never Give Up | Jan 4, 7PM

[Mary C]

Last year, the Invictus Gaming squad had a spectacular year. They earned the first DPC league title in China in 2021, the Singapore major, and only made it to the Kyiv major for a brief time, and finishing in the top four at TI10, among other accomplishments. It's a huge win for the team, revealing that there's a reason this team has been playing in the same roster over several seasons and the only one who hasn't changed anything in the major September 2020 showdown.

The squad did make one transition just before start of the new season of the DPC cycle in 2022, recruiting Chinese Fade from EHOME to substitute Kaka.

Invictus Gaming, somewhat rejuvenated, was able to compete in the regular December game Huya Winter Invitational, and was unconcerned about the outcome. IG, on the other hand, climbed fairly high, despite being denied entry to the tournament's championship game by their RNG rivals.

Assessing Invictus Gaming is difficult. There are two possibilities: they may play around in their first DPC season sans having to worry about the outcome, or they might commence the year like they did in 2021, wrecking the entire Chinese and even global dota community at the same time. 

The revamped RNG will begin the current DPC cycle in the elite division in 2022, thanks to the Elephant squad's unexpected disbandment. RNG faltered in 2021, prompting a big squad reshuffling and the introduction of 3 new members simultaneously.

In December 2020, the previous roster won the Huya Winter Invitational, while the current team advanced to the finals, but they were unable to prevent Neon from going on a killing spree. Perhaps the boys didn't want to stop in order to avoid blowing up the pages before the DPC started. RNG would once again battle for the championships rather than survival. Everything will be settled in the opening matches of the DPC.