Qingtian Joins Top Esports for 2021 LPL Summer

Yu “Qingtian” Zi-Han has joined League of Legends Pro League (LPL) team Top Esports, as reported by the Chinese esports organization on Thursday, May 27. The 19-year-old is said to replace Bai “369” Jia-Hao as Top Esports’ new top lane.

Qingtian’s Strong Showings Land Him a Spot in the Top League

Qingtian joins Top Esports from the League of Legends Development League (LDL), where he played for Young Miracles. This marks his first stint in the Chinese top-flight.

Qingtian joined Young Miracles in December 2020, when he made his professional esports debut. With the team, he has won the LDL 2021 Spring with a 22-3 record and helped the team win the playoffs with a 3-1 win over FunPlus Phoenix Blaze.

During his five-month stint in the secondary league, Qingtian has proven himself as a highly talented player. He was voted as the LDL MVP and finished the season with one of the best stats out of all top laners.

Qingtian ended the 2021 LDL Spring with a 94.1% win rate, 4.74 KDA, 60.9% kill participation, and 24.9% team kill share. The biggest indication of Qingtian’s talent is that he has achieved all that only five months after entering the LoL pro scene.

The 19-year-old played a crucial role in Young Miracles’ success previous split and has quickly gained the attention of some of the best LoL teams in the world. He will now be stepping onto the LPL stage, where he’ll compete alongside veteran players and world champions, including ADC Yu “JackeyLove” Wen-Bo and jungler Hung “Karsa” Hao-Hsuan.

Although nothing is official yet, Qingtian will likely replace 369 as the new starter for Top Esports. 369 has been rumored to part ways with the team during the off-season, leaving behind huge shoes to fill.

Top Esports’ Second Signing of the off-Season

The signing of Qingtian marks the team’s second addition to the team. Top Esports have already re-signed coach Luo “Crescent” Sheng on Wednesday, May 26.

Crescent was previously the head coach of Top esports from May 2018 to December 2020. He parted ways with TES after leading the team for 32 months.

The last time Crescent coached Top Esports, the team won the 2020 LPL Summer Split with a phenomenal 13-3 record. Top went on to win the LPL 2020 Summer Playoffs and placed third-fourth at the 2020 LoL World Championship.

After crashing out of the LoL Worlds in the semi-finals, Crescent left the team and took a break from the competitive scene. He has now returned, hoping he can return TES to the summit of the Chinese LoL scene.

Without Crescent, Top Esports struggled to impress. The team finished the 2021 LPL Spring in third with a 12-4 record and managed only a top-four finish in the playoffs.

New Faces entering the 2021 LPL Summer

Top Esports are not the only Chinese League of Legends esports team making roster changes ahead of the 2021 LPL Spring. Just this week, we have seen several Chinese LoL squads announce both coaching and roster swaps.

Victory Five were very active over the last few days, parting ways with their mid laner Li “Mole” Hao-Yan, who got replaced by Chen “Uniboy” Chang-Chu. V5 also released jungler Wei “Weiwei” Bo-Han and support Guo “ppgod” Peng, who joined Bilibili Gaming.

Mole ended up joining Team WE, where he’ll replace Chen “Yimeng” Ming-Yong. WE added some changes to their bottom lane as well, promoting ADC Guo “Stay” Yi-Yang from their academy team.
The reigning LoL World Championship finalists, Suning, decided on a similar move. They promoted ADC Zou “Assum” Wei from their academy team, who will serve as a substitute for Tang “huanfeng” Huan-Feng.

It was, however, Oh My God, who have made the most roster changes over the last few days. They promoted ADC Chen “Kane” Hao and signed another ADC in Dai “Able” Zhi-Chun.

The team also made changes to their top and mid lane. They released top laner Han “Alielie” Dong-Xu and promoted Lin “Creme” Jian to their LPL roster.

Since the off-season has only just begun, we can expect many more roster changes before the 2021 LPL Summer kicks off. However, the biggest question is what team will Top Esports’ top laner 369 end up joining?