Newbee take back top spot in the Chinese Dota scene

The reigning champions of The International are continuing to show that they’re as capable of winning as any team in Dota 2.

Following their victory in July and the more than $5 million that came with it, Team Newbee went through a brief lull. The team parted ways with Zhang “Xiao8” Ning and failed to place in the top three at either the World Esport Championship or I-League events, eliminated by Evil Geniuses and Invictus Gaming respectively.

But a breakthrough came in October when the team beat out Cloud9, Alliance and Natus Vincere for the World Cyber Arena title. And with new addition of Wang “Rabbit” Zhang, who appears to have finally fully meshed with his teammates, the strong results have continued.

Newbee emerged victorious at the National Electronic Sports Open competition held in China over the weekend, where they battled with a number of China’s top Dota 2 teams.

Newbee beat CDEC Gaming in the final by a margin of two games to one, though their most impressive result of the tournament may been a two game sweep of Invictus Gaming in the semifinals. Newbee also defeated Hyper Glory Team in the quarterfinal round.

The runners-up finish for CDEC Gaming marks another solid result for the team that recently broke off from the LGD Gaming organization to make their own mark. Just last month, the newly independent team managed a top-three finish at MSI Beat IT.

Notably absent from the field of Chinese teams was Vici Gaming, who were in the United States earning their tournament victory at The Summit 2. That victory followed an ESL New York title for Vici, who have made multiple international appearances even as most other Chinese squads have forgone attending international events following The International.