Among the players said to be undergoing trials were Canadian offlaner David 'Moonmeander' Tan and Malaysian support Adam Erwann 'Adam' Shah, but in the end it was Malaysian player Yap Jian 'xNova' Wei and the young Chinese player Chalice that were picked up. The new roster’s first appearance was at ESL One Katowice 2018, but they were unable to make an impression and finished 9th-12th.
However, by April they had transformed into a Dota 2 superpower, with 2nd place at the Dota 2 Asia Championships 2018 the turning point. They lost the Grand Final by a narrow 3-2 margin to the Southeast Asians of Mineski. Then came the big change — French footballing powerhouses Paris Saint Germain decided to come on board.
PSG.LGD step up for Majors
After this, they won back-to-back Majors, at EPICENTER XL (their first event as the newly rebranded PSG.LGD) and MDL Changsha, defeating Team Liquid in the former and VGJ.Storm in the latter to pick up almost a million dollars prize money in total. Then came the China Dota 2 Supermajor, in which they placed 3rd, narrowly losing to this season’s outstanding team, Virtus.pro.
Although they were incredibly late bloomers in the DPC, their record in the second half of the season saw them rapidly climb the rankings to eventually place third, behind consistent performers VP and Team Liquid. They celebrated a successful season by recently announcing that star midlaner Yao 'Somnus' Lu has signed a contract extension until 2020 — taking him to almost five years with the organisation.
All 7 facts about PSG.LGD
- Eliminated in the Group Stage of three Minors in a row
- Recruited xNova and Chalice
- Brought PSG on board in major partnership
- Won their first event after rebranding, EPICENTER XL
- Followed that up with MDL Changsha win for back-to-back majors
- Finished third at the Dota 2 Supermajor
- Signed star midlaner Somnus to long-term contract
How far can PSG.LGD go at TI8?
Header image © Epicenter official photo bank
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