Dota 2: Team Aster get SumaiL as stand-in for Berlin Major as Xwy is put on inactive roster

China's Team Aster have tapped Nigma Galaxy's superstar midlaner Sumail "SumaiL" Hassan to be their stand-in for the upcoming ESL One Berlin Major 2023 as they moved their own midlaner, Zhai "Xwy" Jingkai, to their inactive roster.

Aster announced the move for Xwy to inactive on Friday (14 April), shortly after the the team was unceremoniously knocked out of DreamLeague Season 19 in 9th-12th place.

Nigma Galaxy also announced that they loaned SumaiL to Aster for the Berlin Major on the same day.

Xwy joined Aster last November to replace Zeng "Ori" Jiaoyang, who suddenly announced his retirement from competitive Dota 2 after Aster's fourth place finish at The International 11 (TI11).

With Xwy on the roster for first half of the 2023 Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) season, Aster finished second and fourth in the Winter and Spring Tour Chinese regional leagues, respectively, while also earning a Top 8 finish at the Lima Major.

While these are certainly respectable achievements, Aster is seemingly looking to improve its roster in an effort to lead the decling Chinese Dota 2 scene back to its once dominant status.

TI11 notably marked the first time that a Chinese team did not place in the Top 3 of Dota 2's annual world championship tournament, the previous being TI3 way back in 2013.

The last time that a Chinese team won TI was in 2016, when Wings Gaming claimed the Aegis of Champions.

With only Aster making the Top 8 during the Lima Major, things are not looking promising for China in the upcoming Berlin Major or in this year's TI.

But with such a talented stand-in as SumaiL, who became the youngest player to win TI when led Evil Geniuses to claim the championship at TI5 in 2015 at just 16-years old, Aster may yet make some noise in the Berlin Major.

With that said, there are bound to be communication issues with the team as SumaiL cannot speak Chinese.

The Berlin Major will also mark the first time that SumaiL will play in a Major in almost two years. His last Major appearance was in the WePlay AniMajor back in June 2021, when he was also tapped to be a stand-in by Team Liquid.

Since then, SumaiL has played for OG and Team Secret before joining Nigma Galaxy in May last year. However, his time with Nigma Galaxy has largely produced unsuccessful results, with the team notably getting relegated to Division II in Western Europe after the Spring Tour regional league.

The Berlin Major is the second Major of the 2023 DPC season, featuring 18 of the best teams in the circuit battling for the lion's share of a US$500,000 prize pool and 2,700 DPC point pool from 26 April to 7 May. Those DPC points will notably go towards securing a direct invite to this year's TI.

For everything you need to know about the Berlin Major, check here.

Team Aster roster for Berlin Major:

1. Du "Monet" Peng

2. Sumail "SumaiL" Hassan (stand-in)

3. Lin "Xxs" Jing

4. Ye "BoBoKa" Zhibiao

5. Yu "皮球" Yajun

6. Bai "rOtK" Fan (coach)

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