The Chinese Jian “Uzi” Zi-Hao is considered a legendary ADC in League of Legends, perhaps the mechanically best player of all time. He was a pro for 8 years – in 2020 he had to retire. His body couldn’t keep up anymore. In 2022 he wanted to give it another shot, but his comeback now ends without glory with his release. The team simply found a 19-year-old better.
Who is Uzi?
- The now 25-year-old Chinese began his professional career in 2012 at Royal Club. From the very beginning, Uzi was known as a “mechanically brilliant” player: He was simply faster with mouse and keyboard than anyone else. His international successes include finals appearances at the Worlds 2013 and 2014, in the “good old days of LoL” and a victory at MSI 2018 with Royal Never Give Up, the team also won MSI again in 2022.
- Although Uzi was mechanically extraordinarily strong, he was always considered difficult and hot-tempered. He regularly quarreled with his supporter, got worked up in negative situations and somehow he always lacked a bit of discipline. Nevertheless, he was known for his gameplay with champions that have dash abilities, like Vayne, Caitlyn, or Ezreal. With them, he set standards.
- In May 2020, Uzi surprisingly ended his career at the age of 23. He said at the time that his arms were broken, his body could no longer keep up. He also suffered from type 2 diabetes. He simply couldn’t do it anymore and needed to recover. It was assumed that his extreme click speed after 8 years as a pro made his arms feel like those of a man twice his age.
Weak team from China signs Uzi and 19-year-old ADC in December 2021
That was the comeback: In December 2021, Uzi was suddenly back: He wanted to play as ADC for the team “Bilibili Gaming”, a team at the lower end of the LPL. From the beginning, it was said that he should be used cautiously and was given breaks repeatedly.
The team played with a 6-man roster, the ADC position was doubly occupied: In addition to Uzi, they also had Doggo on the team. He is 6 years younger than Uzi.
How did the comeback go? It took until mid-February 2021 before Uzi played his first match.
Already in March 2022, the team announced that Uzi would take a break to focus on his fitness and work on synergy with the team.
19-year-old Doggo completely replaces Uzi now
This is how it ended: Ultimately, the experiment proved to be a failure. Uzi did not return from the break. Now, on June 1, the team announced that Uzi is leaving Bilibili Gaming.
Ultimately, Uzi only participated in 4 matches of the team, played a total of 9 matches – in China they play “Best of 3” series.
While he had a strong debut on Jinx. As Inven reports, he was not able to maintain the form and couldn’t stand against the 19-year-old Doggo (via invenglobal.com).
- In the end, Uzi was only able to win one of the 4 series he played. Out of the 9 matches, he only secured 4.
- Doggo, on the other hand, was involved in 43 matches and will now become the sole ADC of Bilibli-Gaming. They finished the last season in 8th place with 9-7 series and 20-18 games.
Upon his return to the LPL in February 2022, Uzi seemed to still have it all:
LoL is not “a game for old men”
This is what it’s about: LoL really is a game for “young people”, at 23 you are considered old there. There are cases where players significantly older than Uzi have managed a comeback, but mostly in much weaker leagues: The LPL is known to be brutal.
It seems to be the same with LoL as it is with soccer: If players are known for their physical attributes, for their speed and athleticism, like Uzi, they struggle more as they age than players known for their game intelligence or positional play.
For him, his comeback went significantly better:
LoL pro retired in 2020 after a disaster at Worlds – now dominates the American league
