Japanese Dota 2 team builds hype again, but fans aren’t convinced it will last

Dota 2 spans the world over, yet one prominent gaming country has had little representation in the Valve MOBA: Japan. That might be about to change following REJECT MAY’s latest team announcement ahead of the Asia Pacific Predator League, but many are skeptical the players will hang around for long.

The Asia Pacific Predator League, run by Acer, will find itself in Japan once more next January and as such, it’s only right for a home team to rise to the challenge and take on some of Asia’s best. REJECT hopes to fill that position, picking up Team May on Nov. 24—just as they did for last year’s edition of the event.

Team May was the 2019 champions of the Mara Cup, one of Japan’s most well-known grassroots Dota tournaments run by the charismatic Ogasahara “Mara” Osamu. Mara’s annual events helped push Japanese Dota into the limelight, with Valve sending host and commentator SirActionSlacks to Japan to attend the event as part of a documentary.

The lineup featuring baseballdogs, kaeru, Arab, Suan, and toyomaru competed under the REJECT banner in 2022, failing to win a match after falling to Australian qualifiers Boonz + Goonz and Mongolian team Lilgun. Many fans were excited at the time, however, as it had been an age since Japanese Dota players got the opportunity to play at a competitive level, with many hoping Japan’s lead would be followed by South Korea whose Dota presence throughout the mid-2010s was consistent. This excitement wouldn’t last long though—the squad was released almost immediately following the tournament’s conclusion, and once more Japanese Dota was plunged into the darkness.

REJECT May is back again, but after getting burned once the Dota community is withholding its judgment over whether this squad is worth jumping behind again. Not only has REJECT picked up the exact same roster again, they even used the 2022 graphic for the announcement and simply changed the dates. Unless the team’s players don’t age, surely it’s a little outdated? “It would be nice if the Japanese Dota scene produced pro players, but it’s never going to happen at this stage,” one fan believes, noting the teams that beat REJECT May in 2022 weren’t even competing at the top of the region.

This time around, REJECT has acquired support from a number of sponsors including the likes of Sony, so perhaps this is a sign the org and squad will stick around a little longer. The Asia Pacific Predator League is expected to kick off on Jan. 13, 2024.