China confirms League of Legends roster for 2018 Asian Games

China has finally announced its League of Legends roster for the 2018 Asian Games coming this August.

The roster will consist of:

• Top Lane – Yan “Letme” Jun-Ze from Royal Never Give Up (RNG)
• Jungle – Liu “Mlxg” Shi-Yu from Royal Never Give Up (RNG)
• Mid Lane – Su “xiye” Han-Wei from Team WE (WE)
• AD Carry – Jian “Uzi” Zi-Hao from Royal Never Give Up (RNG)
• Support –  Tian “Meiko” Ye from EDwardGaming (EDG) / Shi “Ming” Sen-Ming from Royal Never Give Up (RNG)

The head coach for Team China will be Ji “Aaron” Xing from EDward Gaming.

Roster Breakdown

China boasts an impressive squad of world-renowned players with great chemistry. Noticeably, four players out of the six are from Royal Never Give Up. RNG won the 2018 Spring Split in the LoL Pro League (LPL) in China, after upsetting Invictus Gaming in the semi-finals. Those four players enter the tournament with pre-existing synergy as they play together on a regular basis.

In the top lane, China has Yan “Letme” Jun-Ze from Team RNG. Letme split top lane duties with Liu “Zz1tai” Zhi-Hao during the last season and was pretty decent. His stats are thinner due to the split playing time, but his impact was felt in the games he did play. He was especially important during the 2018 Mid-Season Invitational (MSI), where Team RNG beat Kingzone DragonX (KZ) to win the trophy.

China’s jungler will be Liu “Mlxg” Shi-Yu, who also split playing time with Hung “Karsa” Hau-Hsuan, a Taiwanese player on the RNG roster. During the 2018 Mid-Season Invitational, Mlxg split time with Karsa until the semi-finals, where he played one game. Mlxg did not play any games during the finals against KZ. Although Karsa’s contribution to RNG’s championship win was huge, China may be going for players who mesh together well. Mlxg has been with RNG since 2015, where Karsa only joined the team in December 2017.

Su “xiye” Han-Wei should be a treat to watch in the mid lane, especially against Team Korea legend, Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok. Xiye and Faker have had multiple exciting matchups during their careers. Xiye had one of the highest Kill Participation percentages amongst LPL mids last season, and the second most kills next to Suning Gaming’s Zhuo “Knight” Ding.

Can Uzi carry the national team to victory?

Though the Chinese team has many talented players, the lane to watch is obviously the bot lane. Perennial All-Star Jian “Uzi” Zi-Hao has been hailed as one of the best AD Carries of all time. He just came off of winning MSI, as well as taking home the Most Valuable Player award. Right now, he may be playing at his best. With League shifting to a more bot lane focused game style, Uzi will have to step it up, with help from fellow All-Star Tian “Meiko” Ye. We will have to see if he can carry the momentum from MSI to the Asian Games.

Final Thoughts

If there is one team that can possibly challenge the Korean juggernaut, that team is China. Korea has not looked this weak as a region in a very long time, so if there was ever a time to step up and steal a victory off of the game’s most dominant region, now would be the time to do so.

I believe that China has the talent and teamwork to defeat Korea. I do think that Uzi is the lynchpin for their success. We will see whether or not he can repeat his MVP performance from MSI at the 2018 Asian Games this coming summer.

What do you think about the Chinese LoL roster? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below! If you want to see more League of Legends content, check us out here!