EHOME – Full Team Profile

Chinese Dota 2 teams have always been some of the best in the world. With that kind of tradition in Dota 2, it seems that majority of teams in that region are predestined for success. One of the oldest Dota 2 teams in China and the entire world is EHOME who have been present in the Dota 2 scene for more than 13 years.

During that time, they had a lot of ups and downs. However the existence of the team was never questioned no matter who bad their results are. Even though the represented China where ever they went, and in each tournament, they participated in, EHOME never got the full recognition for the country, unlike some other teams who did not have the success like EHOME.

Because of that, EHOME has for a long time been like a foreigner team in China who plays under the Chinese flag. Those teams do not have the full support from the country like almost all other teams. The main reason for that is the fact that EHOME was not and still is not a member of the Association of China E-Sports. Because of that, their options for training have been reduced to a minimum.

EHOME History

EHOME E-Sports organization was established in March 2004. However it did not feature a Dota 2 team in the first couple of years. Only in 2007, the organization announced that they will be launching their Dota 2, team. That happened because EHOME managed to gain control over HTML and put them under their flag.

For the first four years, EHOME E-Sports did not participate in any international competitions. Instead, they focused on local competition during that time in order to create a name for themselves. The first time when EHOME participated in some international Dota 2 tournament was back in 2008. They participated at the Asian Championship Games that were held in Singapore.

At that time, EHOME featured 2009, Snoy, GK, DC, and LongDD as their players. At the end of that tournament, EHOME managed to win their first international title. This title is very important because that was their first international tournament – an accomplishment rarely achieved by any eSports team. Since that tournament, players from that roster have become some of the biggest legends that Dota 2 scene has ever seen.

820 AND 357 Joining the Team

Next year, however, was not good at all for this eSports organization. 2009 soon left the team to focus on his education while LongDD also left shortly after that. EHOME attempted to bring in new players and finally ended up with 820 and 357 joining their team. However, that roster proved to be much weaker than their original one, and they could not come even close to the results that they had in 2008.

Soon after that, the remaining two members of the original crew left the team with DC signing with another team and Snoy retiring from the competition. Their replacements were not able to live up to the expectations, and the team’s results continued to decline. However, that was about to change as some of the biggest Dota 2 names at that time decided to join the team.

KingJ and BurNIng in EHOME Team

KingJ and BurNIng surprisingly decided to join EHOME, and that marked the moment when EHOME started to come back to the top of Dota 2 scene. In the first tournament for KingJ and BurNIng, EHOME managed to qualify for ESWC eliminating LDG from the competition. In the main tournament, EHOME went undefeated which meant that they have won their second big international title.

That year was very successful for EHOME as they won several trophies but the success did not last long. Once the Great Chinese Reshuffle started, EHOME’s best players, KingJ and BurNIng, decided to leave the team which caused them a lot of problems because they could not sign those players they wanted.

After achieving huge success (more on that in the next part), EHOME seemed to be on top of the world but that soon changed. Once again, the best players from the team left or retired, and the replacements were not fulfilling their tasks. Eventually, that led EHOME to lose many matches. That resulted in the management disbanding the entire team and shortly terminating their Dota 2 division.

But in 2012, EHOME once again announced that they will be re-launching their Dota 2 team once again. At that time, the roster consisted of several who previously played for EHOME and that were 357 and KingJ. Besides that, Dai, LaNm, and PCT joined the team and completed the new roster of EHOME.

Previous Results

Being present in the Dota 2 competitions for over 13 years means that you have played a huge number of tournaments. That is the case with EHOME, but during that time they have also won many titles in those tournaments. Because of that, they have become one of the most successful Dota 2 teams from China. We already mentioned their first title in the international Dota 2 competitions, but their biggest result so far was reaching the second place in The International 2011.

They came to that tournament as complete outsiders, and nobody paid much attention to them in that tournament until it was too late. Winning match after match, EHOME was building their confidence, and after their semifinal win, everybody was stunned by the game that this team was displaying at that moment. However, they were completely powerless in the final that they played against Natus Vincere who at that time was probably the best Dota 2 team in the world.

EHOME Won Title at the VPGame Challenge League Season 3

Most recently, EHOME did not have very good results. They only won the title at the VPGame Challenge League Season 3 which is characterized as Dota 2 Minor tournament. However, their bad form culminated not that long ago, in the qualifiers for The International 2017. Even though many had big expectations from this team, EHOME disappointed everyone by finishing in the 7th place in the group stage which meant that they were eliminated from the qualifiers.

Last year was a bit more successful for them. They managed to participate in the Boston Major. They finished in the 9th-16th place as well as at the Summit 6 where they finished in the 7th-8th place. Unlike this year, EHOME participated in the last year’s International There they finished in the 5th-6th place which was their best result last year.

EHOME results are getting worse in the last couple of years. It seems that the current roster is not able to fulfill the expectations that the team and their fans have. Because of that, many expect that EHOME will be making a huge change in their roster for the next season.

Current Roster

Before that happens, it needs to be said that currently, EHOME’s Dota 2 roster featured Wang ‘old chicken’ Zhiyong, Chen ‘Cty’ Tianyu, Liu ‘Garder’ Xinzhou, Zhang ‘Faith_bian’ Ruida and Zhang ‘y” Yiping. Without a doubt, these players are not at the same level as the players who brought many titles for EHOME in the past. It also seems that these players are aware of that.

During the first seven months of this year, EHOME had a lot of changes in their Dota 2 roster. The most recent happened in May 2017. There Tang ’71’ Wenyi who was teams’ manager and the coach decided to leave the team. It seems that one constant characteristic of EHOME Dota 2 team throughout all these years has been the fact that they are not able to maintain permanent roster for a longer period of time.

Because of that, it is no wonder that the team is suffering bad results. Players are not able to get accustomed to their teammates’ style of play. EHOME will have a lot of work to do during the post-International shuffle. It would not be a surprise if they drop the entire team.

Total Prize Money Won

Not that long ago, EHOME was one of the most successful eSports team in the Dota 2 scene. They were on the top, they were also winning the huge amounts of money through the prize pool. So far, EHOME has won $3,318,591.39 during all these years. However, the amounts have been declining since 2015 when. Their total prize money was 1,627,431.11 until this year when they managed to win only $8,709.15 at two tournaments in which they participated.

However, during their best days, EHOME was not only winning huge amounts of prize pool money but also huge sponsorship deals from Chinese and international companies who were looking to break into new markets. Of all the players that played for EHOME, Zhang ‘LaNm’ Zhicheng is the player who earned the most money ($634,598.98).

The last couple of years have been tough for one of the pillars of Chinese Dota 2 community. However, this is not something new for EHOME. They have been in this position several times so far and they always managed to come back stronger than ever. Let’s just hope that their resurrection will not last much longer. Dota 2 scene is missing a team such as EHOME.