Uzi (gamer)

Jian Zihao (Chinese: 简自豪, born March 29, 1997), better known as Uzi, is a Chinese professional League of Legends player for Edward Gaming. Uzi is renowned for his mechanical prowess on champions such as Vayne, Kai'Sa, Ezreal and Kog'Maw.[3][4][5][6] He was well known as the franchise player for Royal Never Give Up and its predecessors, although he also played briefly for OMG[7] and Newbee.[8]

In this Chinese name, the family name is Jian.

Uzi
Jian in 2022
Current team
TeamEdward Gaming
RoleBot Laner
GameLeague of Legends
LeagueLPL
Personal information
Name简自豪
(Jian Zihao)
Born (1997-03-29) March 29, 1997[1]
Yichang, Hubei, China[2]
NationalityChinese
Career information
Playing career2012–present
RoleBot Laner
Team history
2012–2014Royal Club
2014Star Horn Royal Club
2014–2015OMG
2015–2016Qiao Gu
2016Newbee
2016–2020Royal Never Give Up
2021-2022Bilibili Gaming
2023-presentEdward Gaming
Career highlights and awards
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese简自豪
Traditional Chinese簡自豪

Uzi has played in the World Championship grand finals twice, both times with Royal Club. He won his first international title at the 2018 Mid-Season Invitational with his team Royal Never Give Up, after defeating the LCK champions Kingzone DragonX.[9]

Uzi officially announced his retirement from professional play on Weibo on 3 June 2020.[10] Uzi ended his career due to personal health issues.[11]

Career

Uzi began his professional career on the Chinese team Royal Club. Widely considered as one of the best AD carries during seasons three and four, Uzi demonstrated his great mechanic prowess and carried his team to two consecutive second-place finishes at the League of Legends World Championship in both 2013 and 2014. Despite their success at Season 3 Worlds, the departure of Tabe prompted Uzi to switch to the mid lane at the start of Season 4 before returning to the ADC role during the summer. Renamed to Star Horn Royal Club, Uzi with Korean imports inSec and Zero rose to the challenge and finished second at worlds with a 1:3 series against one of the best teams ever, Samsung White. And he left the Royal club for the communication problem with Korean imports.

Season 5 however, proved to be a slump in Uzi's career after moving to OMG. Despite being touted as one of the biggest talent transfers of the offseason, OMG incurred difficulties in integrating Uzi to the team. Coupled with the decline of Gogoing and Lovelin, Season 5 was a disappointing one for Uzi. Uzi was picked up by Qiao Gu Reapers and was their sub for Peco. QG was invited to IEM Katowice in March 2016 where they beat Fnatic in their first best of one but were then subsequently eliminated in the group stages following a loss to SK Telecom T1 and then losing to Fnatic 1 - 2.

In May 2016, Qiao Gu Reapers was acquired by Newbee. However, five days later Uzi's contract was bought out by Royal Never Give Up.

On 3 June 2020, Uzi announced his retirement from professional gaming, citing health concerns. In a statement he said, "As a result of staying up late for years, a fatty diet and being under insurmountable stress, last year I found out that I was type-2 diabetic." He added that his mental state was "not as good as it was before". In an effort to recover, he took medication and made changes to his work schedule and exercise habits, but his situation did not change. His doctor told him there could be "serious complications" if he continued playing competitively.[12][13]

On 15 Dec 2021, Uzi announced he will return to the game and join BLG (Bilibili Gaming) as AD player. At the same time, Crisp Breath and Doggo join the BLG too. Uzi himself also responded to this situation. In the past two years, exercise and fitness have become indispensable things in his daily life, so he is still relatively confident in his body. But in the 2021 Spring LPL (League of Legends Pro League), Uzi has not participated any official game yet. On 1 Jan 2021, RNG (Royal Never Give up) 2:1 BLG (Bilibili Gaming). Uzi did not participate the game.

Tournament results

(Star Horn) Royal Club

Royal Never Give Up

Individual awards

References
  1. Shields, Duncan (4 April 2014). "Thorin's crucible: Age restriction - Riot's magic wand". GameSpot. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
  2. Chen, Hongyu (10 February 2020). "The Esports Story of Wuhan: The City Before China's Coronavirus Outbreak". The Esports Observer. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
  3. Rand, Emily (3 June 2020). "LoL star bot laner 'Uzi' retires, citing injuries". ESPN. Retrieved 9 June 2020. He is considered the greatest bot laner of all time, not only in China's LoL Pro League but in all of League of Legends.
  4. "Rekkles Ranks ADC Players Worldwide From Best To Worst". Inven Global. [Interviewer:] 'Could you rank these players from best to worst?' Rekkles: 'I haven't played against everyone here, but I have definitely seen them play. Uzi is for sure the best.'
  5. "TL Doublelift: "We don't have too much to lose now, so we were able to play like ourselves"". Both Doublelift and Olleh had shown stellar performance against Uzi, a renowned ADC player that is regarded as the best by many.
  6. "RNG Head Coach Kezman: "Uzi would've been the best ADC player, regardless of which region he was born in"".
  7. Lingle, Samuel (11 December 2014). "Uzi joins OMG, creating Chinese super superteam". Dot Esports. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  8. Isaakov, Emil (25 December 2015). "Uzi joins Qiao Gu, now owned by eSports organization Newbee". Dot Esports. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  9. "Uzi finally met his destiny by claiming the MSI crown with RNG". Dot Esports.
  10. "LoL star bot laner 'Uzi' retires, citing injuries". ESPN.com. 3 June 2020. Retrieved 31 October 2021.
  11. Cogley, M. (2020, June 5). Esports 'icon' retires at 23 due to health concerns - Diabetes and shoulder pain are among the problems that have brought League of Legends player Uzi's career to an early close. The Daily Telegraph/The Sunday Telegraph: Web Edition Articles (London, England). Available from NewsBank: Access World News – Historical and Current: https://infoweb-newsbank-com.proxy.library.nyu.edu/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&docref=news/17B6B153F65D05D0.
  12. "Gaming 'hero' retires at 23 due to ill-health". BBC News. 4 June 2020. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  13. @RNGRoyal (3 June 2020). "As of today, LPL0006 @UziRNG will officially retire. Uzi was not only the heart and soul of RNG, but also an icon in the esports world as a whole. From a teenager onwards he never gave up and worked as hard as he could to be the best he could in his role, he inspired many" (Tweet). Retrieved 3 June 2020 – via Twitter.
  14. "Uzi finally lifts the LPL championship trophy". Dot Esports.
  15. "Uzi finally meets his destiny by claiming the MSI crown with RNG". Dot Esports.

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