Show Match with Stars and Roster Changes for Gaozu

Former carry of the Eastern European team Team Spirit, Ilya "Yatoro" Mulyarchuk, will participate in a star-studded Dota 2 show match featuring top players from the Chinese scene. Joining Yatoro will be Guo "Xm" Hongcheng, Lin "Xxs" Jing, Wilson "poloson" Koh from Singapore, and Xiong "Pyw" Jiahan. Their opponents include prominent names such as Lu "Somnus" Yao, Yang "Chalice" Shenyi, Du "Monet" Peng, Xu "fy" Linsen, and Yu "皮球" Yajun. The LAN match will follow a best-of-three format.

Amidst this, news of roster changes has surfaced for the Chinese team Gaozu, which finished 9th-10th at ESL One Bangkok 2024. According to the Telegram channel "Muesli Chinese," two Gaozu players—Zhao "XinQ" Zixing and Ding "Dy" Cong — are expected to step down from competitive play following the team’s disappointing performance. Gaozu was eliminated in the group stage, failing to show their best form.

Gaozu roster at ESL One Bangkok 2024:

• Zhang "Paparazi灬" Chengjun
• Wang "Ame" Chunyu
• Thiay "JT-" Jun Wen (Malaysia)
• Zhao "XinQ" Zixing
• Ding "Dy" Cong

In a tournament interview, Wang "Ame" Chunyu of Gaozu reflected on why some teams are leaving the professional Dota 2 scene. He attributed this to their inability to qualify for major tournaments such as The International, which he described as a severe blow to team morale. Ame suggested that increasing the number of international qualifiers could encourage more teams to return to the competitive stage.

ESL One Bangkok 2024 is taking place from 9th to 15th December in Thailand. The tournament boasts a prize pool of $1 million, to be shared among 12 competing teams.