A few days ago, we posted an article on the retaliation between LGD and VG.J. Many readers thought that it’s a simple story between Sylar/Ame and maybe BurNIng. But actually, the whole players and the coach of VGJ have some sort of love-hate relationship with LGD.

rOtK

Firstly, let us talk about VGJ’s coach – ROTK. He used to be a part of LGD for a short period of time and even created his own meme. When rOtK first joined LGD, he said in an interview that he ‘joined LGD to lead the players to play at tournaments’. This incurred the anger of the fans of Maybe and Sylar. Even Xiao8 who was having his break from competitive at that time, wrote on ROTK’s Weibo.

Xiao8: “Honestly, I don’t really think you are up to it, but I hope that you will be able to fit into the team and achieve some good results with my brothers. Remember, don’t use the word ‘lead’, they are very strong players.”

rOtK was probably clueless at that point. After all, a phrase like ‘leading players’ doesn’t seem too out of line for a veteran player like rOtK. In the end, rOtK stepped up and replied publicly.

rOtK: “I came to LGD for just a month, and I have never said that I wanted to lead anyone in LGD. We are here to learn from each other. I am the most recent inclusion of LGD, a team that have always been around the top placing every year. I agree that I have not fit into the big family yet, but I hope that I can bond with everyone as quickly as possible. I hope that my fans will stop defending me and thanks for your support. I hope the LGD fans can give me a bit more time, a bit more understanding and a bit less scolding”.

Thereafter, ROTK’s performance at LGD was underwhelming and this gave the LGD fans more reason to flame him. As such, rOtK had no choice but to leave.

LGD.Ruru: “All the best! I hope everyone finds success when chasing their dreams!”

rOtK: “Returning to the start point but never forget the reason why you started. I am sorry to the LGD fans for disappointing you in the past 6 months. Everyone is asking me to retire, but I still wish to continue playing competitive and will continue to do so. This is not the end of my Dota competitive career.”

Thereafter, rOtK did mention in an interview that his time at LGD was one of the worst of his life.

Freeze

The resentment between Freeze and LGD can be traced back to BurNIng. LGD’s position 1 player Ame matched up against BurNIng when Inflame was streaming. During the match, even Inflame had warned Ame that he was streaming and watch your mouth, Ame kept shouting ‘kill the turtle’ (which is a disrespectful nickname of BurNIng) and this anger the fans of BurNIng. Also, during an elimination match at TI7, Ame destroyed his own items in IG’s base after the GG is called by IG. Such an act resulted in a huge debate. Although BurNIng has said publicly that it’s nothing to fuss about, and even say that Ame is one of the best carry in China in terms of his potential. However, Freeze who was a very good friend of BurNIng’s teammate OP, and also a fan of BurNIng himself, did not like Ame for that reason. As such, Freeze tends to destroy his own items too when he wins over Ame as some sort of revenge for BurNIng.

Sylar

Sylar used to play for LGD too but due to a conflict with LGD’s then captain Xiao8, he chose to leave and wanted to join DK. However, DK did not accept Sylar. Thereafter, he returned to LGD during TI5 and won 3rd place. After TI6, Sylar had a huge drama with LGD’s boss Ruru due to some contractual issue. To put it simply, Sylar accused Ruru of utilizing the contract to lower Sylar’s sign-on fee.

Sylar: “When I decided to surface this issue about you, I was already prepared to take a break. You gave me no choice but to surface this issue.”

Ruru: “What’s the meaning behind the post you made on your Weibo? Based it on your conscience.”

Ruru: “Back then, it was your strong recommendation that we brought in Rotk. With regards to extending your contract, we have always been contacting you for it.”

Sylar: “Ruru… You want me to base it on my conscience? Please see if you have any conscience first before speaking to me.”

In short, Sylar had a verbal agreement with Ruru to renew their contract annually. For the first-year contract, it was signed for 1 year but Sylar ended up playing for 1.5 years. For the second year, the signing fee will increase based on the market value. At this point, both parties couldn’t come to an agreement and hence the contract was not extended. As such, the extra 6 months that Sylar played for were not part of his contract and as it wasn’t signed anywhere, he could not fight for his rights.

Fans were on the side of Sylar in this case and the prestige of LGD fell tremendously. Ruru was suspected to have paid fans to protect LGD’s position online. As a result, Sylar earned his nickname of ‘story king’ because of the following post:

Sylar: “I have already learnt your ‘skill’ on saying one thing and doing another. I told everyone I left the team, yet you came to Weibo with a fake half year contract and act like the nice person. As a pro player, all I said was things related to my career. You think the stuff I posted are not juicy enough? If you continue replying, I will post something much more interested regarding your private life. I know a lot of your stories.”

Although many fans were hoping to read Sylar’s stories, Sylar did not expose anything with regards to Ruru’s personal life. Instead, he posted some gossips regarding his teammates, causing MMY and Maybe to tank a bullet.

DDC

DDC is basically a legend as he is one of the few players that have never missed a TI before and his direct invite to TI8 is quite likely as well. DDC was once a part of LGD as well and he expressed loyalty towards Yao. Soon after, he heard rumors of him getting kicked, he quickly went to ask Yao. The reply he got was that he will not get kicked but just 2 days later, he was requested to leave the team.

DDC’s girlfriend: “I actually found other teams for him but just because he was told that he wouldn’t be kicked, he did not contact them. They kicked him after everyone else have started to compete in tournaments. The teams that we previously contacted have also found other players. If I don’t explain things clearly, people will not understand the situation. Nothing has been announced officially so who am I to say anything. What angers me the most is that they called DDC their brother, but only told him about it after kicking him. When I posted on Weibo, he still approached me and told me not to affect his relationship with DDC.

Here’s something even more ridiculous: When Zhao Jie and Xiao8 were on the verge of breaking up, DDC was blamed for it, saying that the friends of Xiao8 were sowing discord:

Zhao Jie: “Today I am going to get myself drunk. Those who flame me for going out to play every day, get lost. I am going out to have some fun today. Even if I am a bitch, you are also in no position to comment. Also, those so-called friends love to create drama. Do you know the pain I go through when I did not sleep for a few days, persisting in my work and crying myself to sleep? Do you like to sow discord? You hope we break up? Okay, you win. DDC DD CH”

If this is true, then there is a huge animosity between DDC and LGD. What was surprising is that last year when the captain of LFY Xiao8 retired, they asked DDC to save them in times of calamity. LFY was a one-hit wonder that started destroying everyone at TI7 and ended up getting 3rd place. However, soon after the veteran DDC got kicked again but we don’t know if DDC felt sad about it this time around.

On the opening ceremony of LGD’s home court, xiao8 handed the flag of LGD to DDC, hoping he can lead the team in the future.

After talking about the love-hate relationship between LGD and VGJ, we can now better understand the rivalry between the 2 teams. Old teammates and opponents meet on the battlefield once again to settle their scores once and for all.