LGD Gaming
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Wikipedia - LGD Gaming
LGD Gaming is a Chinese professional esports organization based in Hangzhou. It is one of the oldest esports organizations in China and currently has players competing in Dota 2, Honor of Kings, League of Legends, Overwatch, and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds.
LGD's Dota 2 team was notably in a partnership with PSG Esports, and is known for making it to the grand finals of The International 2018 and The International 2021. The partnership expired in September 2023. Its League of Legends team competes in the League of Legends Pro League (LPL), the top level of professional League of Legends in China.
History
History
LGD Gaming created their League of Legends division on 20 February 2012, with Zhou "Bug" Qilin leading the team. After the TGA Grand Prix 2012, LGD qualified for the Season 2 China Regional Finals, but fell short after losing to Invictus Gaming. In 2013 Tencent created China's first championship series, the League of Legends Pro League (LPL). LGD failed to join the league through the qualifiers in both the spring and summer seasons of 2013, but was successful the next year, qualifying for the 2014 LPL Spring Split. The team placed fifth in the regular season of the 2014 LPL Spring Split, failing to qualify for playoffs. In the regular season of the 2014 LPL Summer Split however, LGD placed fourth and qualified for playoffs, where they lost to EDward Gaming 0–3 in the first round and Star Horn Royal Club 1–3 in the loser's bracket, remaining in 4th. LGD was unable to qualify for the 2014 World Championship after losing the final qualifying round in the 2014 China Regional Finals to OMG.
After failing to qualify for the 2014 World Championship, LGD decided to sign Korean players in hopes of qualifying the next year. Bot laner Gu "imp" Seung-bin and top laners Choi "Acorn" Cheon-ju and Lee "Flame" Ho-jong were acquired from Samsung White, Samsung Blue, and CJ Entus Blaze respectively. LGD placed sixth in the regular season of the 2015 LPL Spring Split with a 7–5–10 record, qualifying for playoffs. In playoffs the team surprised expectations by beating both OMG and Snake Esports, who were 3rd and 2nd respectively in the regular season, in two 3–0 sweeps. This qualified LGD for the finals, where they lost 2–3 to EDward Gaming in a close series.