Chinese esports organisation and 2024 Worlds finalist Bilibili Gaming (BLG) has officially announced the signing of Italian-Chinese player Zhao ‘shad0w’ Zhiqiang as its new jungler.
The former MAD Lions jungler will be making his debut during the LPL Split 3, going against Anyone’s Legend (AL) in the first series of the split for the squad taking place on July 26th.
Shad0w will be replacing Yang ‘Beichuan’ Ling on the team, who had recently joined earlier this season after BLG struggled to find positive results with Yan ‘Wei’ Yang-Wei. Beichuan’s arrival led the team to a top-two finish in the LPL Spring 2 and a top-four finish at the Mid-Season Invitational. However, the recent loss to G2 Esports at the Esports World Cup has raised concerns about the team’s potential with the current lineup.
As a result, the organisation decided to pick up shad0w, who had been playing for FunPlus Phoenix (FPX) up until now, consistently among the best performers on the team. He was often the one keeping the team alive, finishing in the top eight in the latest split, including wins against top contenders like BLG, JDG and AL.
Shad0w Was One of the Best In LEC Before Switch to LPL
While he has been in the top half when it comes to LPL junglers in the past few years, shad0w first gained popularity when he joined the LEC at the end of 2019 as a rookie jungler for MAD Lions.
Rising up from the Tier 2 scene, his proactive and early-game focused playstyle was what most junglers lacked at the time to shine through. His arrival in the LEC was met with enthusiasm: MAD Lions were consistently in the top half of the standings and were occasionally able to take down the top two teams at that time, G2 Esports and Fnatic, qualifying for Worlds in the first season.
Unfortunately, shad0w had a major involution during the last tournament of the season, which led to him joining LGD Gaming in the LPL before moving to Ninjas in Pyjamas, LNG Esports (as a substitute) and finally FPX.
With BLG still having some of the best talents from the region, this could be shad0w’s biggest chance to make it back onto the Worlds stage, as the tournament will take place on home soil in China.
