After taking a year off to focus on streaming and his personal life, Chinese Dota 2 star Wang “Ame” Chunyu is returning to fight for the Aegis of Champions once more. But for the first time in his career, he won’t be playing under a version of LGD Gaming’s banner.
According to Xtreme Gaming’s Weibo page, the organization reached an agreement to acquire Ame from LGD’s inactive roster. The team currently only has Ame and long-time support player Dy listed for its lineup, but a move like this can only mean the org’s management, which also founded Azure Ray, is ready to go all in for a title contender.
Before this move, Ame had spent his entire eight-year professional career playing for LGD in some capacity. He started out in March 2015 under the CDEC Youth banner, one of LGD’s developmental rosters, and eventually made the jump to LGD-proper in September 2016. Outside of a brief stint with CDEC Gaming’s main lineup in 2020, he was a key factor in LGD’s success. During his time with the team, he competed in five TIs and finished in the top five each time, claiming second place in two crushing defeats in that span.
When Ame announced he would be taking a break after another failed run at the Aegis at The International 2022, fans were distraught and thought LGD would suffer. However, the org bounced back with some young talent on a new roster, getting back to the podium at TI12 with a third-place finish.
That success may have shown LGD management that Ame wasn’t the key to their success and a deal, that likely included a contract buyout on the backend, from another team was worth considering during its recent reshuffle. However, it is a bit odd that the team would let him walk after seeing him help lead China to a win at the 19th Asian Games (Hangzhou 2022.)
Now, XG has a chance to build a competitive roster around Ame. Rumors of a potential reunion with former teammates Somnus, Chalice, and fy, who left Azure Ray last month are starting to look pretty juicy. Even with Dy remaining on the team, the three open roster spots fit that trio perfectly. And, considering AR finished fourth at TI12 with some players being “dragged into playing” late in the season, adding Ame to the mix could produce an instant title contender.
