The Re-Return of xiao8 and the rise of Newbee.Boss
Written by Daks Rosales
Xiao8 is back – after a whole week of retirement.
A recent announcement on the Newbee twitter page confirms the return of the legendary Chinese captain in their new team: Newbee.Boss. After captaining his Newbee squad to victory in The International 2014, he underwent his first retirement but later returned to the Dota 2 scene with a “for fun” team known as Big God. After moving on from Big God, he worked with LGD in two of their squads until he announced his second retirement.
Alongside him come the reappearances of Ferrari_430 and Chuan. Both players from the victorious Invictus Gaming (IG) squad of The International 2012, they bring along with them their skill sets of carrying and supporting respectively. Ferrari_430 had parted from IG for almost 5 months and dropped off the Dota 2 scene for a period of time, while Chuan had a stint with the main Newbee squad till departing after a disappointing performance in The International 2016. Newbee.Boss marks the return of these two great players, and the team is rounded off by two new additions to the Dota 2 scene.
First is the addition of Zei9, the owner of Newbee. The son of a Chinese billionaire, he is said to play a lot and would likely play a supporting role in the team. To round up the team is axx, considered one of the top female Dota 2 players in China. She regularly plays in Chinese in-house leagues like CDEC and also streams, favoring carry roles. While it is unconfirmed which positions the members would fill, the announcement is as follows:
The Boss is here! pic.twitter.com/2pE6MoNr06
— Newbee (@newbeecn) January 10, 2017
As this team was announced after the roster lock, Newbee.Boss must go through the open qualifiers for the Kiev Major this April 20-23. The team also looks like it was made in time to compete in the Chinese qualifiers for the Dota 2 Asia Championship 2017 Asian Qualifiers this January 13-15, given the time period it was announced. One can bet that this team would be an exciting addition to the qualifiers and to the Dota 2 scene, given their talent and pedigree.
For more updates in the Dota 2 scene and other e-sports leagues, keep updated by visiting esports.inquirer.net for the latest e-sports news.
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