After scoring their highest placement of the 2018-19 Dota Pro Circuit last weekend, Newbee finally looked like it had something to build off of going forward.
The Chinese squad took fourth place at MDL Macau 2019, besting teams like EHOME and even taking a game from Virtus Pro along the way. This outing opened the door a brighter future for a team that has failed to find continued success since early 2018.
But even after that success, the team still assigned Zeng “Faith” Hongda and Wen “awen” Lipeng to its subsidiary team, Mr Game Boy.
Faith joined former Invictus Gaming teammate Luo “Ferrari_430” Feichi, who was already on the subsidiary roster as they geared up to compete at the ESL One Mumbai Chinese Open Qualifier. The two helped Invictus win The International 2012 over the legendary Danil “Dendi” Ishutin-led Natus Vincere.
The two helped MGB qualify for the ESL One Mumbai Chinese Qualifier less than a day after awen and Faith’s assignment.
With Faith leaving the main roster, Newbee called upon another former TI winner to fill his spot.
Li “iceice” Peng played his first game for Newbee in the JJB Spring Cup, which is still ongoing. He raised the Aegis of Champions back with Wings Gaming in 2016 and, until officially announced, is still the captain of Sun Gaming.
Yan “Waixi” Chao, another of Newbee’s main roster players was a member of SG back from November 2017 to 2018, so he has experience playing with the veteran already.
To add more fuel to the fire, Newbee’s head coach Wang “banana” Jiao, who helped lead the 2014 Newbee roster to a TI victory is currently on the active roster. Among the chaotic roster shuffle, he stepped in to fill during MDL Macau and showed that he can still run with the best of them.
The current construction of the main roster fits banana, iceice, Waixi, Xu “Moogy” Han, and Song “Sccc” Chun together as the organization tries to put together a winning combination. As the team said in the Facebook post that announced Faith’s reassignment, the roster is still undecided and it will continue to try out players in the near future.
Ironically, both Newbee and MGB are competing in the JJB Spring Cup and MGB holds the best record in the event at 4-0, while Newbee is struggling at 1-4. That event will run until March 3.
