Quincy Crew stage massive comeback, eliminate Team Aster from The International 10

Team Aster and Quincy Crew both faced multiple hurdles during the group stage of The International 10, but you wouldn’t have been able to tell based on how they played during their best-of-one elimination game today. 

Aster, a Dota 2 team that had to deal with playing in isolation and with a stand-in for a portion of the group stage due to the entire roster and staff testing positive for COVID days before TI began, controlled the game for 37 minutes. But QC played things smart and never wavered, whittling away at the high ground while also holding off Aster long enough to flip the script and take the win. 

Kills were dead even across the board for most of the game, ending at 20 per team. But Aster’s strength came in their timing and ability to force QC to react rather than initiate. Monet’s Luna, XXs’ Legion Commander, and Liu “White Album” Yuhao’s Storm Spirit all looked strong in the early game, but even when they were hitting the tier four towers, QC didn’t flinch. 

While Quinn and YawaR acted as the focal point of QC’s core plans, they also served as a way to keep Aster’s attention on the potential threats, while Lelis punished them by solo pushing the high ground with creeps from multiple angles. That slow process of breaking the towers, racks, and other structures while also playing from behind wasn’t easy—and it almost cost them the game several times. 

After holding off a deadly high ground push that almost saw Aster reach their Ancient, QC completed the turnaround, securing multiple key kills and pushing as a team into the already decimated high ground—a path forged by the last Brazilian left standing at TI10. 

Letting the creeps finish the work on the racks, QC pushed for the tier four towers, taking their first lead of the game and forcing Aster to concede. 

Following a disappointing showing in the group stage, QC have now broken into the top 12 at TI10 and are close to surpassing their TI9 performance, where the core of the team finished in a tie for ninth with Newbee. 

“We’re just taking it one game at a time,” Quinn said. “I think we already hit our all-time low in the group stage so, you know it’s only up from here. I think we all feel pretty carefree and fancy free, so now we are out there just trying to win one game at a time.”

This win sees Aster exiting the event in a tie for 13th, while QC will push forward into a clash with OG in the second round of the lower bracket. This means fans will get to see a Hassan sibling showdown when SumaiL and YawaR face off for a chance to continue a lower bracket run.