I felt like time flies by as I arrived at Shenzhen’s 4th anniversary venue. It seems like it was only yesterday when the 2014 LPL Regionals happened.

I won’t introduce the two people in the picture too much. One of them is called Poppy, the other one is called Ji Mi. Ever since I joined the esports circle, I continuously brought trouble for these guys. For example, criticizing them for their event organization, attacking their competitions, and there was an incident where I stormed out of the venue after a disagreement. To see them again at Shenzhen, organizing all kinds of event preparations and dress rehearsals late into the night, I was touched. They have always been silently contributing to the League scene to have it developed like it is today. I was too immature in the past and my actions were too radical. Good thing is, everything went perfectly for this 4th anniversary celebration.

Before going to Shenzen, we learned a lot. Losing the LPL championship was the trigger that lit the fuse within the team. Many of the past small mistakes and weaknesses were all compounded until everything exploded. In those days, everybody was on tilt. Good thing is, after a large wave of adjustments, we recovered.

Full of confidence to make it out of the winner’s bracket, still haven’t woken up from my dream, I received a morning phone call that sent a chill to my spine.

9:00AM. Deft is in tremendous pain. He needs to go to the hospital.

9:30AM. Register, waiting. Blood test, diagnose. Deft: Sam, my stomach hurts really bad, I want to lay down a bit. Me: All the beds are full, sit and bear with it for a while. I will find one for you.

11:00-13:30. Diagnostic result came out, medicine, needles. Me: Deft, we don’t have time. Let’s give up the first day. Tomorrow we play the loser’s bracket. Deft: Can’t my pain be stopped by taking some painkillers?

14:00. Arrived at venue, went on stage. The IV drip bandage still hasn’t been taken off of Deft’s hand. On the road, I didn’t say a word to Deft. I didn’t even ask if he was ok. He was a fragile child that stepped onto the big stage as if he was a warrior. Walking to the machine that belonged to him, Deft marched into the battlefield without a moment of hesitation just like a warrior.  

When his temperature was taken at the hospital, he didn’t have a fever. But when he walked onto the stage, the referee suddenly exclaimed after he helped Deft sit down:” why is this player so hot!” At that time we knew, he started to have a fever. I wanted say a few things to him, but he shook his head at me. Therefore, I instructed the translator to give him some medicine and water. He tilted his head backwards and swallowed the pills. Time to prepare for the match.

He didn’t want to eat anything for the entire day. After the match, he looked like he was about to faint as he was laying on the sofa. Between every match, I gave him some candy, instructing him that he must finish all of them. And just like that, a few pieces of candy were his only fuel.

The results were really exciting for us. Just like the narrator described, when a great warrior is in a dire situation, he will disregard everything about himself and lead the team to victory against tough enemies. But the narrator never said, what happened to the warrior afterwards?

After the match ended, Deft’s pain increased more and more all the way until the next morning. He didn’t fall asleep until 7AM the next morning. Just like the doctor said, he withstood the stage that was the most painful. Waiting for the medicine to take effect and slowly recover. I believe that this journey of qualifying for Worlds will leave an unforgettable memory for him. And for me, this will also be an unforgettable experience--just a little bit more heartbreaking. Midnight in a hospital, sitting on the hospital bed in the hallway, frowning, hurting so much that he could neither sit for long nor lay down--this was a pro player that just experienced two large battles. He brought us victory, but he also touched us all.

During the regionals, EDG received a large amount of doubt. Many people started suspecting our players and our team. All I want to say is, we never stopped walking forward. We never slacked from top to bottom. Unfortunately, we lost the Summer Championship, eliminated in a clean 0:3 defeat. But this small defeat means nothing. Without weathering the storm, how can you see the rainbow!

There are many things we still haven’t been able to accomplish. How can we be defeated so easily? With our hearts burning with fire, we will not stop. Esports has always been a long road of battles, how can we stagnate so easily?

S5 Worlds, we are coming!

This is a translation of a Weibo blog post that was translated by Steven Yu. The original post can be found here.