The full lineup for LGD Gaming will be competing in the Perfect World Minor set to take place starting November 19th in Shanghai, China.
Last month LGD Gaming made their ProCircuit Minor/Major debut at the PGL Open Bucharest Minor. It was the first of two Minors the team would be appearing in following the acquisition of Xu 'Fy' Linsen. After The International 2017 Fy was recruited as a replacement for Ren 'eLeVeN' Yangwei who was on loan to LGD from EHOME since March 2017.
Only days before the event in Romania had kicked off, LGD were hit with a worrisome situation as Chen 'Victoria' Guanhong developed acute pancreatitis disease. Active coach Yao "QQQ" Yi had stepped in to fill the role, leaving many fans anxious to see how the sudden change in lineup would affect their results. Much to everyone's surprise, the makeshift roster had an impressive run - sliding into first seed for Group A after defeating Infamous and Immortals. They then continued to dominate, knocking out Evil Geniuses 2:0 in the semi finals before heading into the Grand Finals. Mineski proved to be too strong for the Chinese team to handle and were relegated into the second position after a 2:0 sweep by the SEA team.
A second place finish in a minor event came with a hefty prize pool of $65,000 and the much coveted qualifying points. For LGD though, playing with only four of their registered members resulted in a point reduction.
QQQ received 45 points for his participation, while Victoria received 0 and the remaining remembers received 67.5 points. While reduced points is certainly better than no points, it is most definitely a less desirable result. The rule drew ire and backlash from the community, who had taken to social media to discuss alternative options in circumstances where a player is ill and an active coach steps in verses a roster change or benching a player for an invalid reason.
Now, according to the organization's weibo statement, Victoria has made a full recovery and return to competitive play alongside his team in time for Perfect World Minor in less than 3 weeks. Rejoining the team, he will also switch with Yao 'Yao' Zhengzheng to assume the position 5 role.
If the team can repeat their last performance in China -or at least take top four placements, they will be able to receive all 100% of their qualifying points for the event.
Wang 'Ame' Chunyu
Lu 'Maybe' Yao
Xu 'Fy' Linsen
Yao 'Yao' Zhengzheng
Chen 'Victoria' Guanhong
