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Vici Gaming

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Vici Gaming
Short nameVG
DivisionsCounter-Strike: Global Offensive
Dota 2
Hearthstone
League of Legends
Wild Rift
Honor of Kings
Founded21 September 2012; 12 years ago (2012-09-21)
Folded2024
Based inShanghai, China
CEOLu "HunTeR" Wenjun[1]
PartnersHyperX, Biostar, HTC

Vici Gaming (VG) were a Chinese professional esports organization based in Shanghai. It had teams competing in Dota 2, League of Legends, StarCraft II, WarCraft III, FIFA, Hearthstone, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Honor of Kings. Vici Gaming's Dota 2 team had been a top contender in numerous tournaments, most notably as runners-up of The International 2014.

Vici Gaming officially exited esports as a whole after their Honor of Kings team, which competed in the franchised King Pro League, the top division of Chinese Honor of Kings esports, was sold to JD Gaming on 3 June 2024.[2]

Dota 2

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History

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2012

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Vici Gaming was founded on 21 September 2012[3] with the help of "Fengdidi", who previously played in PanDarea Gaming under the name PanPan, handpicking skilled players that were highly ranked on the Chinese DotA ladder at the time.

The players had no previous professional experience at the time with the exception of sydm who had played under the banner of TyLoo. Their mid lane player Cty had shown promise by winning a 1v1 tournament organized by 2009, in which he beat famous players like Ferrari_430, Sylar, Hao, and other top Chinese players shortly before getting recruited.

The team qualified for the 2012 G-League Season 2 by beating Noah's Ark in the preliminaries.

2013

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On 28 January, Vici signed Greedy, captained by the famous YaphetS as their online/backup squad. The rest of the team consisted of xiaotuji, Maybe, nL_Ks, and CaptainGiveMeBall. They were focused on Dota, although they have since expanded to Dota 2.[4]

On 1 March, Vici signed ZSMJ, the founder of Dota 2 squad.[5] It was believed that ZSMJ brought some of his teammates from his project with Chisbug to Vici Gaming, of which a member is Sgua_Li. In the following weeks, Vici Gaming made some roster adjustments, dropping some players in private while sending out a public notice for interested players to contact them.

On 28 March, it was announced that carry player ZSMJ replaced mid player sydm and that former carry Cty picked up the mid role.[6]

In June 2013, following elimination from The International 2013 qualifiers and a disappointing finish outside playoff places in DSL, Vici Gaming announced the departure of team executive, PandaPanPan, and team manager, Nada. Their replacement was mikasa, who had played as a substitute for VG.

On 31 October, Sylar joined the team as the new carry player, but would not be in the starting lineup for almost two months due to contract terms and TuTu remains to play on the ongoing 2013 WPC Ace Dota 2 League.[7]

In December 2013, Vici Gaming traveled to Poland to compete in the Raidcall EMS Fall LAN finals, joining the ranks of teams like Alliance, Natus Vincere, and DK who were pioneers in east-west tournament participation.[8] Vici would go on to take first place at EMS One Fall. Following this, the team also traveled to the Kingston HyperX Dota 2 League in Las Vegas.,[9] but would subsequently fall from the top of Dota 2 due to a lack of direction and poor player performances. Despite placing at many events Vici would not achieve another title in the TI3 to TI4 season.

2014

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On 16 April, it was announced that former EHOME player QQQ will be joining VG as a coach.[10]

At the end of April 2014, Vici Gaming received an invitation to The International 2014, where they would go on to place first in the group stage and second overall. They lost to NewBee in the finals 3–1.

On 17 August, rOtK announced his retirement.[11] 26 August – Sylar leaves the team, and Black^ and iceiceice join.[12] VG looked very strong with their new lineup for the rest of the year, certainly the best Chinese team.

In mid December they travelled to Los Angeles to compete in The Summit 2 and as strong favorites they defeated Cloud9 for the Championship 3–1.

2015

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VG had a strong 2015 season. In February, they reached the finals of Dota 2 Asian Championships ("the biggest event outside of The International") with not too much effort, but they lost shockingly 0–3 to Evil Geniuses in the Grand Finals, especially since they defeated them 2–0 the day before. With the next International being months away, this definitely shook up things for VG and they must've started analyzing their future and possibilities.

On 11 March, Hao joined VG, replacing Black^ in the Carry position, after a month of speculation and rumors going on.

On 15 March, the team announced the creation of a youth squad, VG.P.[13] On 27 April, Vici won Starladder XII after defeating Invictus Gaming 3–1.[14] They were one of the officially invited teams for The International 2015 with a complete prize pool of $18,377,817 and on 2 July they confirmed that they've obtained their USA visas, needed to participate in the event. They ended losing to LGD Gaming to finish 4th and securing $1,562,114. During the first day of The International 2015, VG became the first team outside of Europe to obtain the Verified Tag on Facebook, and third after only Fnatic and Gambit Gaming. After the annual post-TI break/shuffle period, Hao returned to Newbee and VG acquired Xu "BurNIng" Zhilei and Yang "YJ" Pu. They finished 2nd in the Nanyang Championships, falling 2–3 to Secret in the Grand Finals. They would proceed to participate in the first ever Major by Valve in Frankfurt, Germany. They finished in 5th place with $205,000 in winnings.

Final Roster

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Vici Gaming's Dota 2 team at a press conference during The International 2014
ID Name
Erika Yang Shaohan
Setsu Gao Zhenxiong
niu Li Kongbo
fy Xu Linsen
Yang Zhou Haiyang

VGJ

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In September 2016, Vici Gaming signed an agreement with American basketball player Jeremy Lin and investment group China Digital Group to form another Dota 2 team, called VGJ, meant to create a celebrity brand in esports.[15] The team later split into two branches in 2017: VGJ.Thunder, based in China, and VGJ.Storm, based in North America.[16] In May 2018, VGJ.Storm won the GESC Thailand Dota 2 Minor tournament, while VGJ.Thunder qualified for The International 2018 with a top eight finish in the Dota Pro Circuit, with VGJ.Storm winning in the North American regional qualifiers to also gain an invite.[17] In September 2018, the VGJ organization announced an ending to the Vici Gaming partnership due to new Dota Pro Circuit team ownership rules. As a result, it disbanded VGJ.Thunder and rebranded VGJ.Storm as J.Storm, with the team focusing on the North American esports scene.[18]

League of Legends

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History

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On 1 December 2015, VG signed former SKT T1 mid laner Lee "Easyhoon" Ji-hoon to their roster.[19]

On 2 January 2021, VG rebranded as Rare Atom.

Final roster

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Vici Gaming League of Legends roster
Players Coaches
Role Handle Name Nationality
Top Cube Dai Yi China
Jungle Aix Li Yang China
Jungle Leyan Lu Jue China
Mid FoFo Chu Chun-Lan Taiwan
Bot iBoy Hu Xianzhao China
Support Hang Fu Minghang China
Support Maestro Hu Jianxin China
Head coach

Zhu "Loong" Xiao-Long

Assistant coach(es)

Xu "Endless" Hao

Legend:
  • (I) Inactive
  • (S) Suspended
  • Substitute player Substitute
  • Injured Injury / Illness
  

Roster updated 14 June 2020.

References

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  1. ^ Moser, Kelsey (13 March 2017). "Vici Gaming CEO apologizes for insulting Bengi, then deletes his explanation". Yahoo Sports. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  2. ^ Chen, Hongyu (6 June 2024). "JingDong Gaming Acquires Vici Gaming King Pro League Franchise". The Esports Advocate. Retrieved 8 June 2024.
  3. ^ "Meet Vici Gaming". 28 December 2012. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
  4. ^ Vici Gaming revives YaphetS 28 January 2012. GosuGamers.net.
  5. ^ "Vici Gaming picks up ZSMJ". GosuGamers.net. Retrieved 16 December 2024.
  6. ^ "ZSMJ promoted to Vici Gaming 1". GosuGamers.net. Retrieved 16 December 2024.
  7. ^ Tezzeret (31 October 2013). "Meracle to RisingStars, Sylar to Vici Gaming". joinDOTA. Retrieved 31 October 2013.
  8. ^ "VG confirmed as eighth team for EMS One Fall". 4 December 2013. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
  9. ^ freaks4u.com, Freaks 4U Gaming GmbH. "Fnatic and VG to Sin City for D2L Finals « News". joinDOTA.com. Retrieved 18 August 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ "QQQ/357 of EHOME and DK fame Joins VG as Coach". 16 April 2014. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
  11. ^ "VG.Rotk Retires". www.liquiddota.com. Archived from the original on 29 July 2021. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
  12. ^ "ACE Announces Chinese Transfers". www.liquiddota.com. Archived from the original on 4 November 2021. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
  13. ^ "VG电子竞技俱乐部旗下Dota2青训队VG.P人员变动公告". p.t.qq.com. Archived from the original on 1 May 2020. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
  14. ^ Cerrudo, Aileen "Chaos" (28 April 2015). "VG Bags Starladder XII Championship". Inquirer.net. Retrieved 4 May 2015.
  15. ^ "Jeremy Lin endorses new Dota 2 team VGJ". ESPN.com. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
  16. ^ "Vici Gaming splits VGJ into Chinese and NA teams". Archived from the original on 21 March 2020. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
  17. ^ Belandrial. "VGJ.Storm are the GESC: Thailand Dota 2 Minor Champions". vpesports.com. Archived from the original on 26 September 2021. Retrieved 19 May 2018.
  18. ^ "J.Storm Dota Team". teamvgj.co. Archived from the original on 28 September 2018. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
  19. ^ "Easyhoon signs with Vici Gaming in deal reportedly worth $860,000". The Daily Dot. December 2015. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
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