The Chinese Jian “Uzi” Zi-Hao is regarded as one of the greatest players of all time in League of Legends, but he has never been a world champion. At 23, he had to end his career in 2020: Uzi was physically exhausted after 8 years with over 12 hours of LoL a day, suffered from diabetes, and his shoulder was damaged. However, in 2022 he wants to give it another shot. A new team is forming in China, with Uzi appearing in the bot lane.
Who is Uzi?
- Uzi started his career in 2012 at “Royal Club.” At that time, he was 15 and came directly from solo queue. Although he achieved many successes in China and teams were constantly built around him to become world champions, he never managed to win the Worlds. In 2018, at the peak of his career, he won everything else with Royal Never Give Up but was eliminated in the quarter-finals at the Worlds against G2.
- Uzi is considered one of the mechanically best LoL players of all time. He is just incredibly fast with mouse and keyboard. He is the bot laner against whom all other ADCs must measure themselves.
- In 2020, his lifestyle as a LoL machine caught up with him. At 23, doctors confirmed that he had the arms of a 50-year-old. Additionally, he suffered from diabetes. Living as a LoL pro in China is considered extremely tough and relentless. Uzi ended his career as a professional player in June 2020. He was only 23 years old at that time.
Bilibi-Gaming wants to make its mark in China in 2022
He is returning to this team: 2022 is evidently set to be the “year of old stars in new teams” in LoL. Teams are emerging in every region that are bringing in established stars to re-establish themselves:
- In Europe, Vitality is building a “super team” around mid laner Perkz, the former frontman of the permanent champions G2
- In the USA, Team Liquid is restructuring around veteran Bjergsen
- In Korea, “Gen G.” is refining its roster and bringing in the super talent Chovy
- In China, “Bilibi Gaming” will launch a new experiment around Uzi
This is what the roster of Bilibi Gaming looks like in 2022:
- Uzi will be competing in the bot lane
- The strong supporter Crisp, world champion 2019 with FunPlus Phoenix, will be his partner
- The team is completed by Breathe, Weiwei, and FoFo.
This is what makes Uzi’s situation special: At Bilibi Gaming, it seems they are planning around Uzi. They have provided the 24-year-old veteran with a strong backup and potential successor in “Doggo” (18) from the very beginning.
The 18-year-old Taiwanese is regarded as a great talent in LoL.
It appears that Doggo is planned to get playing time so that Uzi can take it easy. Because apparently they do not want to impose a regular 24/7 LoL regime on the health-compromised veteran.
It will be exciting to see if Uzi can reach the level of his former greatness in 2022 and finally attain the world champion title that he desires so much.
In any case, the story sounds like a plot for a sports movie. The question is whether it will be a tragedy or if it ends with a happy ending.
Uzi had to end his career because he was physically broken. Another great and still relatively young LoL player suffered from an obsession. He could only play LoL if his PC was set up exactly the way he wanted it:
LoL world champion (22) talks about the obsession that ended his career
