As teams have started to qualify for the second major VALORANT LAN of 2023, plenty of new teams and players have come to light thanks to great regional performances. Chinese team Attacking Soul Esports is no different, making waves as a new group from China competing internationally—and trolling some casters, as a video revealed today.
Out of all the players on Attacking Soul Esports, one in particular stands out for his in-game name. Designed to be gibberish and tough to pronounce for every single caster he gets, Zhang “hfmi0dzjc9z7” Juncheng is growing in popularity as a troll as well as a top-tier VALORANT player.
Thanks to how the qualifiers went, Attacking Soul Esports have already qualified for VCT Masters Tokyo 2023, alongside familiar faces in EDward Gaming. This now means that hfmi will be broadcast in multiple languages, all over the world.
In a video released on May 3 from VALORANT Esports China, he went into depth into why he named himself that twelve-character name and why it purposefully doesn’t make sense.
“The name represents my entire life, from childhood to now,” hfmi0dzjc9z7 said. “This name was specifically created to challenge commentators with its pronunciation.”
There is no middle-ground for hfmi; he knew exactly what he wanted to do when he competed with this name, and that was to annoy and confuse commentators. However, in the same video, he does say that the true nature of the name is a secret only he knows.
For the time being, he’s already gained popularity in China for how casters there address him. Some of the nicknames he’s acquired include “Alphabet Brother” and the short-form “hfmi”. His teammate Qu “Life” Donghao also commented on the name, but wasn’t able to remember it letter-for-letter when challenged to.
“The weirdest name I’ve seen belongs to ASE hfmi0dzjc9z7,” Life said. “He chose this name probably based on his own interpretation. Besides that, he thought it was interesting and highlighted a sense of difference.”
Related: Everything you need to know about VCT Masters Tokyo 2023
With the team on the way to Japan for Masters Tokyo starting on June 11, hfmi has one goal in mind whenever the competition begins asides from going for the title.
“I hope everyone can read my name letter-by-letter,” hfmi said. “I will feel a sense of secret pleasure.”
