Road to Bucharest — Vici Gaming

Keeping on telling about participants in The International 10 in our section «Road to Bucharest». At the previous time we got acquainted with the first contestant from China and in today's episode we’ll continue to review teams from the Heavenly Empire.

Let’s continue our trip around China with Vici Gaming and their «Road to Bucharest». Enjoy reading.

Vici Gaming’s Portfolio

Traditionally, let’s start our review with short facts about Vici Gaming. The Tigers are one of the oldest organizations in China, so we’ve got what to discuss here.

• Date of club’s foundation: 21 September 2012;
• Roster at The International 10: poyoyo, Ori, old_eLeVeN, Pyw, Dy, Fenrir (coach);
• Region: China;
• How they made it to The International: 7th place in the DPC -rating;
• Main achievements: second place at The International 2014, first place at The Summit 2, second place at Dota 2 Asia Championship 2015, fourth place at The International 2015, second place at ESL One Katowice 2018, first place at DreamLeague Season 11 and EPICENTER Major 2019, second place at MDL Chengdu Major.

We have covered the highlights, and now we are getting down to the most interesting part.

First appearance

For the first time, Vici Gaming appeared on the international Dota stage on 21 September 2012. Their debut roster was made up of «sydm», «Cty», «Xtt», «fy», and «Fenrir».

Vici Gaming’s first attempts in Dota 2 were hard to be considered successful. In 2013 the team was getting used to new realities and learned the main intricacies of Valve’s MOBA.

Nevertheless, Vici showed more or less satisfying results. They took second place at MAD Premier League Season 2, fourth place at National Electronic Sports Tournament 2013 and won Sina Cup Supernova Dota 2 Open Season 2.

Yet, all these trophies paled beside the fact that Vici failed at the qualifiers for The International 2013, taking third place there which wasn’t surprising. That year there was huge competition in China, and it was impossible for all teams to play at the main tournament of the year.

The International 2014

Vici managed to make up for the lost opportunity in 2014. VG were in Top all season: second place at Sina Cup Supernova Dota 2 Open Season 3, second place at WVW National Electronic Sports Classic April, Top-4 at MarsTV Dota 2 League 2014, third place at The Summit, CDEC New Star Challenge.

Vici Gaming had enough merits, and a direct trip to The International 2014 did not keep them waiting. Right at the group stage, Vici justified their invitation.

At the group stage, the Chinese players got a confident first place, winning 12 matches out of 15. Thanks to the updated format, the performance at the groups stage sent them directly to the upper bracket of the playoff.

In the first round they got defeated by another Chinese grand — Newbee, but that was not enough to break down Vici Gaming. They started their way through the lower bracket.

It was pretty successful. On their way to the grand final Vici Gaming beat DK and Evil Geniuses.

At the final Vici Gaming met Newbee again and in an hour they lost the championship in one of the fastest finals in Dota history. Aegis headed for China, but it was not held by Vici Gaming.

Season 2015

Another important turn of development in Vici Gaming’s history was 2015. Their updated roster was then represented by «Hao», «Super», «iceiceice», «fy», «Fenrir».

The unfortunate defeat at the final of The International 4 broke Vici Gaming’s spirits. They were seriously motivated for the upcoming season and did everything they could to make it to The International 2015.

At the beginning of the year Vici Gaming had a series of great performances at major tournaments: third place at i-League Season 2, silver at Dota 2 Asia Championship. Vici consolidated success in several months when they won VPGame Pro League Season 1 and StarLadder StarSeries Season 12, and also getting second place at i-League Season 3.

The players provided themselves with a ticket to The International. The vice-champions were one of the main favourites at TI.

The main tournament in 2015 was not easy for Vici Gaming. In the group stage the team took sixth place which meant a start of the playoff in the lower part of the break.

In the losers’ bracket Vici showed a worthy performance. The Tigers vanquished NaVi, Cloud9, MVP.Phoenix and EHOME. VG were stopped only by LGD Gaming who defeated the gamers at the last but one round of the lower bracket and sent them home with fourth place in their pocket.

Season 2018-2019

After The International 2015, Vici Gaming were going through dark times. The team could not find their place among the grands of that time for several years.

The team missed The International 6 and The International 7, as the players were unable to overcome the closed qualifiers. The first glimpses in games appeared in the second half of 2017, and the complete comeback to the Top was made in season 2018-2019.

The end of 2017 resulted in Top-8 at StarLadder i-League Invitational Season 3 and second place at AMD SAPPHIRE Dota PIT League for Vici. Additionally, in 2017 Vici took second place at 2 Perfect World Masters.

In 2018 the team represented by «Paparazi…», «Ori», «eLeVeN», «LaNm», «Fenrir» started their way to the top. They started with a performance at ESL One Genting 2018, and continued with the second place at ESL One Katowice 2018.

Later Vici tripped over The Bucharest Major, getting to Top-14. Then they got fifth-sixth place at Dota 2 Asia Championship 2018 and third place at MDL Changsha Major which was a key tournament of the season.

ESL One Birmingham 2018 and China Dota2 Supermajor were held in a middle tempo. At the first championship Vici Gaming got to Top-12, and the home tournament resulted in Top-6 for the team.

Their performance during the year let Vici Gaming get a direct invitation to The International 2018. The tournament, considering VG’s previous attempts, turned out well for the players: Vici Gaming got to Top-12.

The next season was the best for VG in their history. Having changed the roster a bit, («LaNm» and «Fenrir» got replaced by «Fade» and «Dy») Vici started their business.

In a year the team won StarLadder ImbaTV Dota 2 Minor Season 1, and later DreamLeague Season 11. Then the team finished at MDL Disneyland Paris Major to proceed to EPICENTER Major 2019 which also resulted in a victory.

Apparently, these results led the team to participation in The International 2019. At the tournament Vici Gaming fought well but the players were unable to climb higher than Top-6.

Pandemic, season 2021, and a trip to The International 10

The last significant result for Vici before the pandemic COVID-19 was third place at DreamLeague Season 13. After that esports dived into a quarantine mess which contributed, as it might seem, to perpetual reshuffles.

Vici Gaming was not an exception, so they spent almost the whole year looking for an optimal roster. Of course, they participated in local tournaments, two of them were even won, but it did not have any decisive influence. But the start of season 2021 actually did.

The updated DPC season welcomed Vici Gaming with a renewed roster, It was made of «poyoyo», «Ori», «old_eLeVeN», «Pyw», «Dy», and «Fenrir» as a coach.

The fresh roster came to fruition.

In the first DPC season, Vici finished third in the elite CHinese division. It gave them a chance to visit the first major in a year – ONE Esports Singapore Major.

Starting their way with the Wild Card round, Vici Gaming made it to Top-8 of the major. We definitely can’t call this result successful.

The second DPC season was even more successful for Vici. Vici Gaming again finished in Top-3 of the league and again set to play in Wild Card, this time at a major in Kyiv.

And again Vici Gaming showed a high level of skills and, which is more important, of endurance. The Kyiv major finished with fourth place for Vici Gaming which made them participants in the event in Bucharest.

Before the start of The International 10 Vici Gaming played in two seasons of i-League 2021 where they finished in Top-2. This is where Vici’s history paused, and we will see its continuation in several days at TI10.

See you later at EGamersWorld.