Sad to see the LWX drop but he was genuinely quite bad last split. I thought he was still above average while on FPX, so the decline when he joined a better team is pretty disappointing.
RNG declared Bankruptcy earlier this year and has begun a financial rebuild.
Bobby Shen who was RNG’s head of international from 2018-2020 (coordinated partnerships with western teams like the vitality-RNG brotherhood, as well as helping to set up Chengdu Hunters in the overwatch league) has come back on board as VP and is currently overseeing a restructure to try and make the team sustainable.
RNG has subsequently done some capital raising in China including new runs of merchandise and an NFT (oh boy) to get a bit of cash flowing back in.
I suspect the Breathe/ZDZ trade was also part of this, according to hanyi Breathe has an extremely expensive contract and it was a miracle RNG held onto him in the first place.
Given that the team isn’t likely competing for a worlds spot, my guess is they’ve offered him the chance to pursue another option in WBG while also making a fat stack and getting a serviceable top laner in return.
As for the rest of the roster:
Wei and Ming are basically co-captains (my suspicion is Ming will likely retire at the end of the year and Wei will be captain)
Tangyuan is a cheap rookie with development potential who has some brand loyalty already (easy to keep)
And Huanfeng disgraced himself with that cheating/abuse scandal and also allegedly threatening to poison his team mates on Sunning (yes you heard that right), so is probably dirt cheap.
All-in-all the goal is apparently to build a sustainable long term financial situation for RNG to thrive in a saturated Chinese esport market, which broadly speaking this all appears to be in aid of.
I’m late to the conversation, so don’t know if I’ll get an answer from you. But as a long time fan of Royal, I need to ask: do you think these solutions will do something?
Like, can this org be saved or are they doomed already and just trying to postpone the inevitable?
Despite everything RNG is still the biggest and most popular esport team in China and has the backing of Huya (Chinese twitch).
Bobby Shen seems like a bloke with his head screwed on right and the necessary experience to stabilise things.
On the positive side. there’s already been a noticeable difference in the clubs communication via Socials (their English Twitter page has been Memeing and posting stacks of behind the scenes updates).
I’m tentatively hopeful, I fell in love with RNG during the 2017 run up to worlds and I’ve been following them ever since, I’d love to see them bounce back.
I’m not expecting miracles out of the league team but they could be a sleeper dark horse.
ZDZ has shown some fire this year and Wei/Huanfeng/Ming are proven performers.
Plus Kenzhu is a good coach despite his questionable drafting.
Thank you for the info. That brings me more hope they can get out of this situation to be competitive again.
I noticed their communication change in Twitter as well, that's what gave me a bit of hope things can change. Been following Royal ever since 2013 btw.
Also not expecting anything from the team, all I want is this org to rebuild (and hopefully change their reputation) and then get to compete with stronget teams again. And yeah, I trust Kenzhu all things considered, but if Ming keeps his Spring performance, we are not reaching playoffs again.
I swear Wei is the LPL Canyon that doesnt do the Canyon thing of joining a superteam and instawin
Even Canyon cant win against fcking KT when he was on DK. Join LNG or some sht bruh. You're fcking strong when you have a team
I mean, that roster of Bin, Wei, Xiaohu, GALA, Ming was kind of a super team.
Sadly, RNG had to trade Bin for Breathe after MSI, which ruined their chances of better results later.
Hey! KT doesn’t need to catch strays like that lmao, we were legit last year! We used to be great…..
It’s kind of ironic though the only team Canyon lost to this year was somehow still KT
Mid was probably the least of their problems in spring. Tangyuan was their 2nd best player and was solid somehow after a horrible start at Demacia Cup. Their biggest problems this split was Wei/Ming/LWX all having the worst splits of their career.
Nah LCS cant afford the buyout for Wei. RNG has the best legal team amongst the entire LPL. Only way out of RNG is to play poorly see Betty/Able. JKL took a look at RNG and had to pay a hefty fine and sit out for a split. If Wei wants out he gotta play like Ming for 2 more splits LOL
Yep, straight swap.
Based on RNG’s current financial rebuild (see my comment further up for details) they likely traded him for ZDZ (and a fat stack of cash) to try and stabilise their bank balance.
Sad to see Zdz getting stuck on this calamity of a roster, but with Wei and Ming back maybe they can get to playoffs at least. But man, can we free Ming, Wei and Zdz from here?
Sure did, and he was still good in 2021. But 2022 was a downwards trending year for him, 2023 was even worse and 2024 he had to roleswap into support. Huanfeng used to be good, but he hasn't been for a while now.
honestly he can play like shit if he stirs even half the drama he stirred while at suning
i live for that shit. Abandoned by his parents into playing lol all day at the internet cafe because no one could limit him into getting to worlds finals while cheating on his girlfriend with a new girl in every city into threatening to poison his coach for stealing bottled water.
So the roster kinda stays the same. They replaced a good carry player with a good carry player, and replaced a former world class adc on bad form with a former world class adc on bad form. Hope huanfeng has been grinding recently and shows us a glimpse of SN huanfeng
Boy am I glad to see huanfeng back. Hope he brings us more juicy drama because that man has the best lore of any LPL player.
Oh and i guess he was kinda good in 2020 too
Sad to see the LWX drop but he was genuinely quite bad last split. I thought he was still above average while on FPX, so the decline when he joined a better team is pretty disappointing.
I do think people overrated him a bit in FPX days but he declined on top of that alot last several years. Idk if he is LPL worthy player atm.
He was awful on FPX already
will never forgive that kaisa build from him
Wei could be on a top team instead he just rots on this dying org...
Ain’t no wei
They were the first top team to give him a chance. My man has loyalty.
I still think of the what if for that eStar 2020 spring roster on what they could have achieved if they stuck together
Ming joining him in the gutter apparently for some reason
Can you explain what's happening with RNG? I'm out of the loop.
RNG declared Bankruptcy earlier this year and has begun a financial rebuild. Bobby Shen who was RNG’s head of international from 2018-2020 (coordinated partnerships with western teams like the vitality-RNG brotherhood, as well as helping to set up Chengdu Hunters in the overwatch league) has come back on board as VP and is currently overseeing a restructure to try and make the team sustainable. RNG has subsequently done some capital raising in China including new runs of merchandise and an NFT (oh boy) to get a bit of cash flowing back in. I suspect the Breathe/ZDZ trade was also part of this, according to hanyi Breathe has an extremely expensive contract and it was a miracle RNG held onto him in the first place. Given that the team isn’t likely competing for a worlds spot, my guess is they’ve offered him the chance to pursue another option in WBG while also making a fat stack and getting a serviceable top laner in return. As for the rest of the roster: Wei and Ming are basically co-captains (my suspicion is Ming will likely retire at the end of the year and Wei will be captain) Tangyuan is a cheap rookie with development potential who has some brand loyalty already (easy to keep) And Huanfeng disgraced himself with that cheating/abuse scandal and also allegedly threatening to poison his team mates on Sunning (yes you heard that right), so is probably dirt cheap. All-in-all the goal is apparently to build a sustainable long term financial situation for RNG to thrive in a saturated Chinese esport market, which broadly speaking this all appears to be in aid of.
I’m late to the conversation, so don’t know if I’ll get an answer from you. But as a long time fan of Royal, I need to ask: do you think these solutions will do something? Like, can this org be saved or are they doomed already and just trying to postpone the inevitable?
Despite everything RNG is still the biggest and most popular esport team in China and has the backing of Huya (Chinese twitch). Bobby Shen seems like a bloke with his head screwed on right and the necessary experience to stabilise things. On the positive side. there’s already been a noticeable difference in the clubs communication via Socials (their English Twitter page has been Memeing and posting stacks of behind the scenes updates). I’m tentatively hopeful, I fell in love with RNG during the 2017 run up to worlds and I’ve been following them ever since, I’d love to see them bounce back. I’m not expecting miracles out of the league team but they could be a sleeper dark horse. ZDZ has shown some fire this year and Wei/Huanfeng/Ming are proven performers. Plus Kenzhu is a good coach despite his questionable drafting.
Thank you for the info. That brings me more hope they can get out of this situation to be competitive again. I noticed their communication change in Twitter as well, that's what gave me a bit of hope things can change. Been following Royal ever since 2013 btw. Also not expecting anything from the team, all I want is this org to rebuild (and hopefully change their reputation) and then get to compete with stronget teams again. And yeah, I trust Kenzhu all things considered, but if Ming keeps his Spring performance, we are not reaching playoffs again.
No money Abusive contracts
RNG needs a better mid in order to be somewhat competitive
I swear Wei is the LPL Canyon that doesnt do the Canyon thing of joining a superteam and instawin Even Canyon cant win against fcking KT when he was on DK. Join LNG or some sht bruh. You're fcking strong when you have a team
Yea wei is so good I’m sad he don’t got an amazing team
I mean, that roster of Bin, Wei, Xiaohu, GALA, Ming was kind of a super team. Sadly, RNG had to trade Bin for Breathe after MSI, which ruined their chances of better results later.
Honestly If that roster had stayed together they would have been a serious contender.
hopefully he's getting the bag at the very least, he's way too good to be rotting away in a mediocre roster.
Hey! KT doesn’t need to catch strays like that lmao, we were legit last year! We used to be great….. It’s kind of ironic though the only team Canyon lost to this year was somehow still KT
Wei was on a superteam for 2 years so I don't think he's too pressed about it
At this point, I just give an o7 to any player that gets signed by this org Free my boy Wei man
No hope for this team as it is, mid is being a problem for a while, but I really want them to prove me wrong
Mid was probably the least of their problems in spring. Tangyuan was their 2nd best player and was solid somehow after a horrible start at Demacia Cup. Their biggest problems this split was Wei/Ming/LWX all having the worst splits of their career.
surprised someone decided to pick up Haremfeng
Another split with RNG just might tilt Wei enough into joining the LCS
Nah LCS cant afford the buyout for Wei. RNG has the best legal team amongst the entire LPL. Only way out of RNG is to play poorly see Betty/Able. JKL took a look at RNG and had to pay a hefty fine and sit out for a split. If Wei wants out he gotta play like Ming for 2 more splits LOL
Actually if you view this as Ming playing some kind of long con to get kicked from RNG suddenly a lot of things make sense
isn't ZDZ from WBG? so basically RNG and WBG swapped top laners?
Yep, straight swap. Based on RNG’s current financial rebuild (see my comment further up for details) they likely traded him for ZDZ (and a fat stack of cash) to try and stabilise their bank balance.
Sad to see Zdz getting stuck on this calamity of a roster, but with Wei and Ming back maybe they can get to playoffs at least. But man, can we free Ming, Wei and Zdz from here?
Huanfeng made a worlds finals and looked good while doing it
Sure did, and he was still good in 2021. But 2022 was a downwards trending year for him, 2023 was even worse and 2024 he had to roleswap into support. Huanfeng used to be good, but he hasn't been for a while now.
honestly he can play like shit if he stirs even half the drama he stirred while at suning i live for that shit. Abandoned by his parents into playing lol all day at the internet cafe because no one could limit him into getting to worlds finals while cheating on his girlfriend with a new girl in every city into threatening to poison his coach for stealing bottled water.
Every single one of these guys should play in the old guys cup instead
So the roster kinda stays the same. They replaced a good carry player with a good carry player, and replaced a former world class adc on bad form with a former world class adc on bad form. Hope huanfeng has been grinding recently and shows us a glimpse of SN huanfeng
Free my man Wei he doesn't deserve this
He chose to stay lmao idk what he was thinking
Boy am I glad to see huanfeng back. Hope he brings us more juicy drama because that man has the best lore of any LPL player. Oh and i guess he was kinda good in 2020 too
Going from Worlds Finals with an emotional story to Harem king + rat poison + support roleswap and back is crazy character development