LGD’s Victoria will take a sick leave, team swaps in coach 357

We’re not even at the first Dota 2 Pro Circuit event of the season yet, and we’re already seeing a tier one, International-caliber team changing their roster.

LGD Gaming revealed that support player Chen “Victoria” Guanhong will be taking a leave of absence from the active lineup due to illness, the organization announced earlier today via its official Weibo account.

Someone commented on the Weibo post to ask LGD’s social media manager about what ailment Victoria suffers from, according to one Redditor on the thread corresponding to the news. The manager disclosed Victoria’s condition as acute pancreatitis—which refers to an inflammatory condition affecting the pancreas.

Acute pancreatitis, while misleading due to its name, is a chronic condition that can be extremely painful and sometimes even lethal—even with treatment. Symptoms include a swollen abdomen, severe abdominal pain, fever, and nausea. These symptoms can last several days if left untreated, and can cause patients to be hospitalized for three to five days at a time.

While classified as an acute illness, acute pancreatitis can become chronic, which can progress to terminal status. Once chronic, pancreatitis causes patients to periodically experience pain, and their diets are restricted due to the lack of enzymes to break down certain types of food.

Victoria will be going back to his hometown in order to seek treatment and recovery. The roster change happened immediately, with tenured coach and retired player Yao “357” Yi taking his place.

357, famous for his time with EHOME in DotA Allstars and Team DK in Dota 2, is one of the oldest Chinese players. He was 27 years old at TI2. 357 retired from active play some time after 2013, and returned to the scene as a coach for Vici Gaming in 2015. It’s currently unclear what role he will be playing in LGD.

This creates some potential chemistry and teamwork issues for LGD going forward, but perhaps it’s best for them to deal with this early on instead of in the middle of the upcoming Pro Circuit season.

It is, however, a shame regardless—considering how important Victoria was to the team’s top four run at TI7. Fans are hoping Victoria makes a full recovery and gets back in the booth soon.