BurNIng on qualifying to the first Major: “Compared to some other tournaments, we actually were fully prepared for this one”

Imba TV recently an interview with the Team Aster co-owner Xu “BurNIng” Zhilei, who was ready to answer a couple of questions regarding the new line-up of his team, the importance of running varsity teams and the development of the Chinese scene.
ImbaTV: We are very glad to have BurNIng with us today. BurNIng, please say hi to everyone!
Hello everyone, this is BurNIng.
ImbaTV: Okay, so first question: many clubs are now focusing on developing their youth teams, including Team Aster. In your opinion, what does a youth team mean to a club?
I think it’s more like a reserve of talents. As you know, right now the trade and transfers between clubs are not that easy, so most of the time clubs need to cultivate new talents by themselves. What’s more, I think it also aims to find new talents with great potential, and this is also something I really want to do myself. Growing them can be really rewarding.
ImbaTV: As we know, there are 7 players in the youth team you are cultivating right now, so do you have a mechanism to decide who gets to play in tournaments?
Basically, just tryouts. The youth team has just been assembled not long ago; everyone’s got the chance to play and we’ll see how it goes, so that strong players with a lot of potential get to stay in the team.
ImbaTV: In the China DOTA2 Development League there are many relevant rules and even measures to prevent the use of online ringers and match fixings. Do you think there’s anything else they can do to improve in this respect? Do you think these measures are working well?
I’m not very familiar with the exact measures, but I think they are really necessary. At least they can improve players’ attitude towards professional tournaments, like refusing to use ringers and get involved in match-fixing, etc. Therefore, external constraints are definitely necessary.
ImbaTV: Let’s go back to Team Aster. Since last year, the team has been through many roster moves. Except from position 3 Lin “Xxs“ Jing and position 4 Ye “BoBoKa” Zhibiao who remain on the team, the rest of the players are new. Is the current squad ideal to you?
I think the fact that this time our team was able to qualify for the Major speaks louder than my words. Song “Sccc” Chun has always been the first on our list, and we are really glad to sign him. Also, our performance this time was good, so I think it was quite a successful move.
ImbaTV: Aster secured a spot at MDL Chengdu Major. So, just a sensitive question for you: do you think your performance this time was more because of luck or because the team was well-prepared before the tournament?
Well, I think both. To be honest, I think if PSG.LGD did participate in the qualifier, we might have not been able to qualify. Other teams were also very strong, RNG, EHOME, as well as the rising Newbee. Anyway, there must be some luck, but compared to some other tournaments before, we actually were fully-prepared for this one.
ImbaTV: In what way do you think China DOTA2 Development League is helping the professional teams and players?
I think CN DOTA needs this kind of tournaments. We can’t just play in tournaments like Major or TI, because this way, there are just too few tournaments for people to watch. Besides, many things can’t be examined through scrims, like drafting, strats, and weaknesses so I think online tournaments like this are very necessary.
ImbaTV: Apart from offering a chance for teams and players to test their strategies and skills, do you think this kind of tournaments can help unify the Chinese Dota 2 community?
Yeah, definitely. There were tournaments like this before in China, but they didn’t last, so there was actually a gap here in the past few years, so I think China Dota 2 Development League is good and meaningful for everyone in China who plays and is interested in Dota 2.