After rOtK made his decision to join LGD Gaming public, the Chinese organization officially announced their roster changes today. rOtks’s EHOME teammate, ddc is joining him at LGD.
[DOTA2] Most of you guessed it, ddc will also be joining the LGD roster alongside rOtk! Yao and xiao8 wish them the best of luck #weareLGD
— LGD-Gaming (@LGDgaming) August 26, 2015
The Chinese shuffle brings important changes in the Eastern scene and one of those would be the not so unexpected decision of LGD’s captain Zhang 'xiao8' Ning to step down along with Yao 'Yao' Zhengzheng.
Xiao8 was flirting with the retirement idea even after The International 4. After he went inactive for few months he decided to join the retiree squad Big God in the last days of 2014. At DAC he placed with his team in a more than decent fourth place and that triggered his desire for more. He knew he has a lot more to prove and he rejoined LGD Gaming in the post DAC “Great Chinese Reshuffle”.
Now, xio8 has finally decided it is time for him to step back and let his old time friend, rOtk to lead LGD Gaming.
At the same time, the one who was always with LGD since the day he joined in 2011, Yao 'Yao' Zhengzheng made a very emotional weibo post in which he says he feels exhausted after the tense eight competitive years he had and he thinks this will be a good time not to completely retire but to take a break.
“In Seattle I was already debating if I should retire and rest for some time. Playing professionally, training all night, studying replays, flying to different countries and dealing with jetlag, these have all become ordinary daily things, but keeping this up for all these years has pushed my body and my mental state to its limit. At this year's TI I basically suffered insomnia night after night. During the day I finished my games gritting my teeth, screaming. I realized I really did need to relax and get some rest.” (translation courtesy of Liquiddota user Monv18hao).
LGD Gaming roster:
Liu 'Sylar' Jiajun
Lu 'Maybe' Yao
Lei 'MMY' Zengrong
Bai 'rOtk' Fan
Liang 'ddc' Faming
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