When The International 2018 concluded, the annual post-TI shuffle brought with it promising new lineups. Among these were Forward Gaming and Team Aster — two hopefuls that looked to stand out amidst regions that fell flat at the International. Since then, neither team has managed to achieve the success that one would expect when looking at the lineups.

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Aster was formed by BurNIng, but did not include him in the roster. Instead stretching across external roles (owner and coach) while no doubt having a huge influence on the players selected. The resulting roster included playmakers Xxs and BoBoKa from his time at iG, Sylar as the carry to hold BurNIng’s torch, Fenrir as a position 5 that could enable a great safelaner, and Dstones as an up-and-coming midlaner. A group now relinquished of the management woes and politics of the LGDs, VGs, and iGs of the world. A group with enormous potential not only to shake up the Chinese scene, but to threaten the global circuit.

Aster immediately asserted themselves as a top 3 team in their domestic region. Qualifying for the Kuala Lumpur major, their strengths included an unmatched late game with Sylar; an intimidating offlane with rejuvenated form in Xxs and BoBoKa; a solid defensive support situation that could protect their carry; and the Dstones Invoker. While each of these elements were strong, it felt like they were very dependent on Xxs and BoBoKa dominating early so that Sylar could dominate later.

Their first LAN together was ESL One Hamburg and at first, no team was able to handle the combined efforts of their safelane and offlane. Just about every team allowed Aster to pick Invoker as well, which was already well-established as Dstones’ best hero. Every game they were able to stall things out long enough for Sylar to take over, giving them a first place finish in the group stage. In that moment, all evidence was orienting itself in a way that made this team one to fear at the major.

It was not to be. Once in the playoffs, their first opponent was Vici Gaming, a domestic rival that already understood has to deal with Aster. An unlucky draw, make no mistake. A 2-1 series would have BurNIng’s squad drop to the lower bracket to face PaiN Gaming. This should be an easy matchup — there was little indication that PaiN would be a force to be reckoned with. A wildcard opponent to some degree, but nothing more. The result was an upset as Misery’s boys gained some serious momentum and made use of something that Aster was wholly unprepared for: reckless aggression.

Aster dropping out so early was no doubt far below expectation. You could forgive the result though, since their dynamic against VG was unfavourable and the match against Pain was so unlike anything they’d faced together. Forget the results — ESL One was a tournament of learning and experience.

Between that event and the KL major, they made the decision to drop Dstones and switch BurNIng for a new coach in the form of Q. Changes like this had drastic effects on how the team operated ingame. Q’s drafting philosophy seemed starkly different to BurNIng’s. Xxs gradually became more of a traditional utility offlaner and their midlaner was given far more opportunity to carry the mid game. This approach is likely a more sustainable one, but Aster had to adapt to these changes along with a new player in little time.

Take these factors and combine them with what looked to be the worst group possible for Aster and you have them barely fall into the lower bracket after a 2-1 tiebreaker against VG. Unfortunately, starting in the lower bracket gives no room for error. A best of one against J.Storm once again saw Aster depart unexpectedly early from an international event. At this point, questioning the team’s ability to perform on LAN starts to become reasonable, but you really can’t draw much meaning from a best of one.

Domestic success continued to demonstrate this team’s capabilities. Soon they would not only book a ticket for the Chonqing Major, but top their region’s qualifiers. So it seemed time might have given them the opportunity to gell more and learn to operate under Q’s method. Of course this turned about to be fool’s gold yet again. Aster fell out of Chonqing without a single win.

The games were horrible. Their drafting felt uninspired and unadapted to the tournament’s meta and teams. Xxs and BoBoKa seemed to be gradually losing form, perhaps due to the lack of inspiring results (although that is purely speculative). The result was mostly Sylar against the world in matchups that shut him down or countered his hero completely. It finally started to feel like excuses weren’t enough for the team. Most of the pieces were still all there, but the arrangement barely made them a team worth glancing at.

Going from bad to worse, Aster would fail to qualify for the Stockholm major, giving room previously battered Chinese teams on the rise. Sensing the futility of their situation, they made a desperate gamble for the minor qualifiers by once again kicking their midlaner. This time for Mushi in what could be described as a low-risk, medium reward move. His leadership presence and decent mid play might’ve been enough to stabilise the trajectory that Aster found themselves hopelessly free-falling down. While close, ultimately they did not manage to qualify even for the minor.

The situation isn’t totally hopeless for Aster. It’s possible for Mushi to have a positive impact with some more time. They really need to start questioning philosophies around drafting and playstyle if these factors aren’t yet up for debate. Further drastic change may be needed to pull them out of the slump before the players resign themselves to hopelessness. Their foray into the season showed that they are capable of truly great things when morale is high and potential is just barely being scratched. Perhaps their brief flash at ESL One indicated a brighter future.

The presence of their new midlaner did seem to uplift the team at ESL One Katowice. Often having relatively weak laning phases, but possessing a surprising ability to find farm throughout the game, Mushi frequently found himself in the top two networth position towards the end of the group stage. Of course, once they encountered serious competition in the playoffs, Aster were overrun by the superior OG and they fell out 2-0.Follow me on Twitter for bite-sized opinion blasts and to be notified when I post future articles: Mythos You can head over to our Dota 2 hub for more content Images courtesy of ESL