After nearly two years of waiting, The International 10 is finally upon us, but unfortunately, this anniversary edition came with a plethora of problems for the teams and especially for Team Aster who has the entire roster and staff members tested positive for coronavirus.
Team Aster announced that their entire filming crew along with the players, the team leader and the coach tested positive for coronavirus just a few days before their bootcamp in Bucharest, Romania was about to come to an end.
After isolating all their players and crew members in separate rooms at the hotel where they bootcamped, Aster were allowed by Valve to play at TI10 from their current location. While this was a relief for them and for their fans, their run in the $40,018,195 TI10 is once again jeopardized as their mid laner, Liu "White Album" Yuhao, is unfit to play on the opening day.
“Although the symptoms for the new coronavirus continue to improve for White' Album, he is still in no condition to compete. Considering our players' health, and after our discussion with Valve, we have come to a conclusion: White' Album will be absent temporarily, while Chen "86" Yuxuan, one of the team's assistant coaches will be standing in,” Team Aster announced on their Weibo page just mere hours before their first series in the tournament.
If his health improves up to the point where he will be feeling fit to compete, White' Album will be allowed to return, Aster mentioned.
Team Aster temporarily roster for TI10
Du “Monet” Peng
Chen "86" Yuxuan (stand-in)
Jing “Xxs” Lin
Zhibiao “BoBoKa” Ye
Zhi Cheng “LaNm” Zhang
Aster are seeded in Group A and are set to start their TI10 campaign today, October 7, at 09:00 CEST. Their two series scheduled for day one of the group stage will be held against two North American teams. Their opening series will be held against Evil Geniuses while later in the day, around 17:00 CEST, they will be pitted against Team Undying.
The International 10 group stage matches will unfold October 7 - 10, while the playoffs are set to kick off on the 12th of the month. For more details on the tournament format, full schedule, check our one-stop survival guide HERE and head over to our TI10 tournament page HERE.
