Uzi, born Jian Zi-Hao on April 5th, 1997, has been known for awhile as one of the best League of Legends players in the world. He began his career on Royal Club in October 2012 and found instant success internationally as Royal Club finished 2nd at 2013 Worlds and 2014 Worlds losing to SK Telecom T1 and Samsung White respectively. 2015 and 2016 were forgettable as Uzi moved to OMG and Qiao Gu before moving back to Royal Never Give Up.
Uzi and Royal Never Give Up have now become an iconic duo such as Faker and SK-T1 or Rekkles and Fnatic. Uzi found success again finishing 2nd in the 2016 Summer LPL Split. They made it to Worlds and made it out of groups but ran into the eventual champions, SK Telecom T1. 2017 had the same feeling as Uzi led Royal to two more 2nd place finished in 2017 Spring LPL Split and 2017 Summer LPL Split. This was a pattern that Uzi couldn't shake off and it earned him the nickname as the Crownless King as one of the best players in the world who couldn't win that illusive title.
2017 took a toll on Uzi and he took an extended break before rejoining the team half way through the 2018 Spring LPL Split. Royal finished 3rd in the regular season and had to run the gauntlet starting in Round 1 against Team WE, who they swept 3-0. Next up was Snake Esports, who also fell 3-1. Waiting for them in the semifinals was the heavy favorites 1st seed Invictus Gaming, but sadly their superstar top laner theShy is out after having wrist surgery. They still put up a huge fight, but Royal took the series 3-2 to setup another final between Royal Never Give Up and Edward Gaming. Edward Gaming was the other 1st seed from the other group and some might say it was destiny, but even though everyone wrote Uzi and Royal off, they were able to finally break through and give Uzi his first ever championship. He had been playing League of Legends professionally at the highest level for over 5 years, but he was always playing 2nd fiddle to everyone else until now... Uzi showed up when it mattered most and took his team to the 2018 Spring LPL Championship.
The first international tournament of the year comes after the Spring Split in the form of the Mid Season Invitational. The LPL are 1 of 4 major regions who get an automatic birth into the Main Event along with LCK, NA LCS and EU LCS. Joining the 4 major regions were representatives from the VCS and LMS. Pre-tournament predictions slotted KINGZONE DragonX as the heavy favorites with Royal Never Give Up a potential 2nd. Royal started off shaky as they split their games on each of the first 3 days, siting at 3-3, whereas Flash Wolves were blazing at 6-0. These tournament are fairly long with a 5 day group stage and 2 best of 5 for the semifinals and finals, so it is all about the build up and peaking at the right time. Royal followed this script to a tee as they swept Day 4 and 5 of the group stage and then winning the tiebreaker game to secure 1st seed. They took a 6 games winning streak into the semifinals, where they chose Fnatic as their opponent. Fnatic did very little to stop them as Royal stretched their win streak to 9 games, sweeping their way into the finals to face none other than tournament favorites Kingzone. Royal won the first 2 games and some thought that they might go all the way, but Kingzone fought back winning Game 3 and taking a commanding lead in Game 4. Uzi did not want to play a Game 5, where everyone would be talking about the potential of a reverse sweep and the prowess of the LCK. Uzi took matters into his own hands and busted out some of the most ridiculous plays to first halt Kingzone's momentum and then to swing it back into their faces as Royal rode Uzi to the promise land. Uzi and Royal Never Give Up had conquered LCK's Kingzone and tied the all-time MSI score at 2-2 between LPL and LCK. Uzi was no longer the Crownless King as he now has an LPL Championship as well as an MSI Championship.
Uzi can now claim that he is currently the Best League of Legends Player in the World as he holds his regional title and the most recent international title, but even with these titles, he still has a lot to prove going into 2018 Summer and Worlds as a lot of teams will now be gunning for him and his team. In China, Royal actually finished with the 4th best record in the regular season with Invictus Gaming, Edward Gaming, and Snake Esports all finishing ahead of them. Invictus Gaming looked dominant going 18-1, only losing 5 games all season, but a hand injury to their star top laner TheShy derailed their season and saw them lose to Royal. In Korea, teams such as KINGZONE DragonX, KT Rolster, and SK Telecom T1 are looking to come back with a vengeance to reclaim that international glory. This has been a magical run for Uzi and Royal Never Give Up, but 2018 Summer and Worlds can truly cement himself into League of Legends history.
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