Esports is a team-based competition designed to build social and emotional learning skills in students. Additionally, Esports provide students with a platform for collaboration and developing mentorship relationships; some larger esports teams even maintain gaming houses where athletes live together and practice together.
Travel expenses can become prohibitively expensive when starting up an esports team, so it is best to stay within a local region initially. Doing this makes finding talented players and tournaments much simpler.
Team History
EHOME is an iconic Chinese Dota 2 team. Established as an official club in 2004, with Warcraft III and Counter-Strike teams but adding the Dota division later that same year. EHOME became widely known for being one of its oldest teams; having made multiple TI grand final appearances and numerous 5th-6th place finishes since 2007.
Current players on the team, such as Iceiceice and Fenrir, have seen inconsistent results; winning some small tournaments while placing poorly at bigger ones.
DreamLeague Season 11 resulted in their worst performance of 2018, placing 13th-16th. Following this disappointment, major roster adjustments were implemented including dropping Faith_bian and eGo, signing newcomers while benching old ones – this process continued up until September.
Roster
After their reshuffle debacle was concluded, EHOME enjoyed strong results after getting back together as a team: They won MarsTV Dota 2 League 2015 Winter and placed 5th-6th at The International 2016.
2017 was an uneven year for the team that experimented with their roster, yet still won some minor tournaments such as FMWH Dota 2 Championship Season 3 and VPGame Challenge League Season 2.
But in larger events, they were typically less confident of their performances – particularly after placing 9th-12th at Shanghai Major 2016. Somewhere during this event momentum may have been lost.
In 2018, DreamLeague made some adjustments, as old chicken left and was replaced with Garder and iceiceice, Fenrir went on hiatus and Sylar filled his place; otherwise the lineup remained the same. They won the Bucharest Minor tournament and qualified for DreamLeague Season 11. Unfortunately though they placed 13th-16th at main events.
Sponsorships
Esports sponsorships help teams cover competition fees and travel costs while also providing players with equipment and brand exposure. Companies looking to sponsor an esports team or player should seek sponsorship opportunities through a gaming association first.
Intel and Red Bull are key supporters of esports, investing millions of dollars to sponsor events and teams across multiple esports leagues and tournaments. Through their sponsorship deals, these companies reach millions of fans.
Esports streaming companies are among the biggest sponsors in esports. By securing exclusive rights for an event at an additional fee, streaming companies can maximize advertising revenue. They may also partner with teams and influencers for marketing campaigns – sometimes this results in hybrid sponsorship agreements where an eSports company provides financial or other benefits back to them in return for being sponsored.
Events
EHOME hosted numerous esports events, such as Dota 2, and other competitive games. It offered gamers the opportunity to compete, socialize and learn together.
Team China Dota 2 is well known for their Dota 2 roster and boasts some of the finest players in China. Furthermore, they have won several notable tournaments.
2017 proved disastrous for EHOME. After making many roster experiments that did not pay off, they won some small tournaments but fell short of making The International.
In 2019, the team began the season strong by winning both a minor tournament in Bucharest and placing 5th-6th at The Chongqing Major tournaments, then qualifying for DreamLeague Season 11. At DreamLeague Season 11, they faced tough opposition such as EG and Talon Esports before eventually being forced into a rematch against Knights due to performance issues.
