One look at the list of teams participating at BetBoom Dacha Belgrade makes one team in particular stand out for their strange name: Yakult’s Brothers. At first glance, this squad may be completely unfamiliar to those not in the loop, but in reality the roster is actually composed of mainstays of the Chinese Dota 2 scene.
Although the lineup is pretty different from the one they ran with at The International 2024, G2 x iG is now competing as Yakult’s Brothers, after the partnership between G2 Esports and Invictus Gaming came to a close on October 8th.
Our G2 x iG partnership has come to an end, and we have mutually agreed to part ways.
We want to thank iG for helping us expand our presence in China and launch our first team in the region. We also want to thank our G2 x iG DOTA 2 players for representing G2 on the world stage.…
— G2 Dota (@G2DOTA) October 8, 2024
Interestingly though, they haven’t gone back to being just plain old Invictus Gaming, but are instead competing under a completely different name for this tournament in particular. This is nothing completely new though, as teams like Evil Geniuses and Alliance have run “trial” rosters in the past under different names, like with the old SADBOYS lineup for EG and Horde for Alliance.
What the Heck is a Yakult?
So, what does their name actually mean? First off, Yakult is a brand of sweetened probiotic milk made in Japan, fermented with the bacteria lacticaceibacillus casei Shirota. The name Yakult itself was derived from jahurto, the Esperanto word for yogurt.
Yakult is extremely popular in Asia, where it is sold in convenience stores and supermarkets in more than a few Asian territories.
When it comes to Dota 2 though, Yakult is the handle of the team’s coach, whose real name is Wang Hao. It seems obvious that the players are meant to be his “brothers” as such, as in brothers-in-arms in the cutthroat world of professional Dota 2.
Who’s in Yakult’s Brothers?
The lineup of Yakult’s Brothers going into BetBoom Dacha Belgrade is as follows:
- Jin “flyfly” Zhiyi
- Zhou “Emo” Yi
- Nicholas “zeal” Lim
- Ye “BoBoKa” Zhibiao
- Wilson “poloson” Koh
Emo and BoBoKa easily stand out here as the two most recognizable players on the roster. Emo was once part of the Invictus Gaming roster that placed a very respectable fourth at TI10, and BoBoKa is famous for his innovative support Monkey King back in 2017. We don’t really see them performing all that well at Belgrade, but stranger things have happened in Dota 2 before.
After all, South American team Heroic just got done upsetting powerhouse Team Falcons at PGL Wallachia Season 2. While this is of course a small sample size of just one tournament and one best-of-five grand final match, this lineup of Chinese players in particular probably has the best chance of upsetting the natural order of things at Belgrade due to their experience as a collective unit.
If any of them could pull something out of a hat once the tournament starts, we may just see Yakult’s Brothers go further than initially expected.
This team will play their debut match at BetBoom Dacha Belgrade, starting with their series against current International champions Team Liquid on October 19th. Catch them in action over on BetBoom’s official Twitch and YouTube streams.
