Dota 2 – What’s going wrong over at Team Elephant?

A bunch of veteran players all grouped up in one star-studded roster isn’t always the best idea. Let’s talk about Team Elephant and their current situation.

By now any veteran player (and fan) has seen it happen many times. All of the best players in a region leave their respective teams to form an all-star superteam together. Team Secret’s first iteration, Team DK and now Team Elephant. For some reason these teams never seem to live up to their massive expectations. With Team Elephant currently being only in the middle of the pack with a 2-2 scoreline in the Chinese DPC. We will look analyse this team’s performance to discover why such amazing players are unable to win the games that matter.

Shaking things up

On october 10th 2020 the professional dota world would be shaken up by the first signs of a great chinese shuffle. Since the announcement of the new Team Elephant would force the two top teams of the region to drastically change their roster, to combat a new all-star competitor. Vici Gaming would lose their two biggest players, Eures and Yang, while LGD.PSG got struck with a similar blow, losing its star mid player Somnus together with their legendary captain FY. Enlisting the help of China’s most promising rookie, Redpanda, the all star team was now complete. Eures, Somnus, Yang, Fy, and Redpanda. All five of these names carried massive weight. Enough weight for the whole world to be watching to see if this lineup could bring back TI winning glory to China.

Reflections in the city lights. Some look to rise, while others search for their path forward.

It’s the halfway point of Season 1 in DPC CN. The next two weeks will be the Chinese New Year break for the China League.

Be back on February 22.https://t.co/ruyHm2vQ1H#DPCCN pic.twitter.com/o43yOtHS0E

— Perfect World Dota ⚔️ DPC CN (@PWRD_DOTA2) February 8, 2021

In its first few months Elephant looked to be the best chinese team by a giant margin. Easily sweeping through both Dota Pit: China and the China Pro Cup finishing first place in both of them. Eures and Somnus’s raw skill, Yang and Redpanda’s creative strategies and Fy’s experienced leadership. It all seemed too much to deal with. IG and Aster once again fell just short, and Vici and LGD.PSG were still trying to rebuild their rosters after the massive fallout Team Elephant left behind.

Crumbling under expectations?

When the chinese DPC season started there were clear expectations. Team Elephant on top, Vici Gaming and PSG.LGD close behind with their rebuilt rosters. Invictus Gaming, Team Aster and EHOME desperately trying to stay close to these top teams. Closing with LBZS and Team MagMa attempting to escape elimination on the bottom of the bracket. Like it tends to do often, the actual results were surprising, a the star-studded Team Elephant would lose their first two DPC games VS IG and Aster. Later they’d bounce back by taking two series against both LGD and LBZS. Going into the Chinese New Year Break however, a 2-2 scoreline is not fitting for an All-Star team like this. So this break might have to involve a lot of work, if they want to turn the tide.

Closing out a back and forth struggle between titans of the China DOTA scene, Elephant takes it 2-1 over PSG.LGD in our final match before the Chinese New Year break. #DPCCNhttps://t.co/ruyHm2vQ1H pic.twitter.com/GgTSGaJ7I7

— Perfect World Dota ⚔️ DPC CN (@PWRD_DOTA2) February 7, 2021

After losing their first two series many experts have pointed out that Team Elephant is missing one crucial component in their team. For they might have five All-Star players, they do not have an All-Star Coach. Most of Team Elephants players shine in the spotlight while being coached by some of the greatest coaches in the world. While Eures and Yang were being put into a prime position to perform by the legendary rOtk, Somnus and Fy had one of the big three captains, Xiao8, coaching them to victory. On this new Team Elephant squad. all they have to rely on is the Coaching from XZ. A player who spent the last three years as a substitute player for LGD.PSG, with no coaching or captaining experience whatsoever. The end result is lackluster coaching.

Even though Team Elephant’s players might be incredibly good on their own merit. The games they have to play are also incredibly hard to win. Since one of the coaches’ biggest jobs is making sure the team gets the best drafts possible, this is exactly where Team Elephants’ problem seems to be. Take their second game VS Teams Aster for example. Their last pick and carry was a Clinkz, in a draft where Team Aster had already opened with a Winter Wyvern. Making it so that Eures had to play an almost impossible game on a clinkz who is out of the meta, and countered by the enemy offlaner.

Looking ahead

Team Elephant has the potential to be a TI winning team. But with Dota’s competition being as fierce as it is, you will need a TI winning coach as well. And if Xz is not able to step up and deliver, they might need to look elsewhere in the future. They may need to look for an all-star coach to complete their all-star lineup. Or disappear in the black hole of mediocrity.

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Image Credit: Team Elephant / Valve