Edward Gaming

Edward Gaming (previously stylized as EDward Gaming; abbreviated EDG) is a professional esports organization in China. Its League of Legends team competes in the League of Legends Pro League (LPL) and plays games in the Shanghai Electric Industrial Park in Shanghai. The team was formed by members of World Elite in spring 2014 after they left the team.[1] EDG won the 2015 Mid-Season Invitational.

Edward Gaming

Short name	EDG
Divisions	Current: League of Legends Former: Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Hearthstone
Founded	September 2013
League	League of Legends Pro League
Based in	Guangzhou
Location	Shanghai
Arena	Hongkou Football Stadium
Championships	2015 Mid-Season Invitational

History

2014

Edward Gaming (EDG) first entered the professional League of Legends scene in September 2013.[2] EDG secured a spot in the 2014 LPL Spring Split by acquiring the slot of LMQ, which had left to compete in the 2014 NA Challenger Series.[3] EDG's first acquisitions were Jie and former Positive Energy AD carry NaMei, who both signed with the team on 10 February.[4][5] Soon after on 12 February, they acquired former World Elite players ClearLove and fzzf as their jungler and support, as well as Koro1 as their top laner.

On 29 April, EDG placed first at the 2014 International Esports Tournament in Yiwu, Zhejiang.[6]

EDG gained a reputation as a "super team", emerging as the champions of the 2014 LPL Spring Split on 25 May.

They continued to perform well into the 2014 LPL Summer Split, finishing in first place in both the regular season and playoffs. In the finals of the playoffs on 24 August, they defeated OMG in the LPL Spring Final on 24 August. In addition to their LPL success, EDG also found success in other events, finishing top two at every major tournament they competed in. EDG won the 2014 China Regional Finals on 7 September, securing the first seed from China at the 2014 World Championship. However, EDG underperformed at the World Championship. The team tied for second in their group with ahq e-Sports Club and ended up losing to fellow LPL team Star Horn Royal Club 2–3 in the first round of playoffs.

On 12 September, EDG won the X Championship Season I. On 26 October, EDG placed first at the 2014 NVIDIA Game Festival. On 2 November, EDG finished in second place at the 2014 National Electronic Sports Tournament (NEST 2014). Samsung Galaxy Blue AD carry Deft announced on 11 November that he had joined EDG.[7] On 2 December, mid laner PawN joined EDG from Samsung Galaxy White.[8] EDG won the 2014 National Electronic Sports Open, defeating LGD Gaming in the finals on 7 December. On 13 December, they placed first at Demacia Cup Season 2. On 17 December, Azure, now known as Meiko, joined the team.[9]

On 28 December, EDG placed first at G-League 2014.

2015

Players posing with medals after winning the 2015 Mid-Season Invitational

On 4 January, NaMei left the team and joined Star Horn Royal Club.[10] On 15 January, the day before the beginning of the 2015 LPL Spring Split, fzzf announced his retirement.[11] He was replaced temporarily by Mouse, who played with the team at the G-League 2014 Finals, and in the first two weeks of the LPL Spring Split.

On 16 January, EDG started a Hearthstone division with lvxiaobu, yutian and longshi.[12]

From week three of the split, Meiko played as the team's support. On 26 April, Reapered joined as a coach. EDG finished first in the 2015 LPL Spring Playoffs, defeating LGD 3–2 in the finals.[13] EDG's LPL Spring title qualified them for the inaugural Mid-Season Invitational.

EDward Gaming beat SK Telecom T1 in the finals of the 2015 Mid-Season Invitational and were crowned as the tournament's inaugural champions.[14]

At the 2015 World Championship, EDG lost in the quarterfinals to the European team Fnatic 0–3.[15]

2016

In January 2016, EDG's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive division was established.

In January 2016, in the 2015 GHL Storm Hero Gold Finals, EDG lost to eStar 2–4 and finished runners-up. In June 2016, EDG E-sports Club officially announced the suspension of the Storm Hero Project.[16]

On 23 April 2016, in the 2016 LPL Spring Final, EDG lost to Royal Never Give Up (RNG) 1–3 and finished runners-up.[17][18]

EDG qualified for the 2016 LPL Summer Playoffs thanks to their placement in the regular season.[19] EDG lost to RNG 0–3 in the 2015 LPL Summer Final and received the second seed for the LPL at the 2016 World Championship.[20]

EDG tied with AHQ after the group stage, and the former qualified for the quarterfinals after beating the latter in a tiebreaker match.[21] On 16 October 2016, EDG lost to South Korean team ROX Tigers 1–3 in the quarterfinals and was eliminated from the tournament.[22] In the Demacia Cup held in December 2016, EDG defeated RNG 3–1 and advanced to the finals. In the final, EDG defeated the I May and set a record of five consecutive tournament championships by an LPL team.[23]

2017

In April 2017, EDG lost to RNG 1–3 in the LPL Spring Playoffs semifinals and followed up with a 3–2 victory over OMG, finishing third.[24] In the LPL Summer Split, the EDG defeated Invictus Gaming (IG) in the second round of playoffs to advance to the finals. In the final, EDG defeated RNG to win their fifth LPL title and qualify for the 2017 World Championship. EDG was eliminated from the 2017 World Championship after failing to place top two in their group, ending with a 2–4 record.[25]

In 2017, the club officially established EDG.M as its mobile division and acquired the original 2016 World Cyber Games champion roster. In the Kings Glory Champions Cup, EDG lost 2–4 to the Qiao Gu Reapers in the quarterfinals.[26]

In July 2017, EDG and Tyloo announced their new strategic partnership, stating that they would jointly train new players and help cultivate CS:GO talent in China.[27] In November, the two teams created a jointly-owned PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds team.[28]

On 31 October 2017, EDG and Lyon Esports announced their joint venture to establish "Lyon China" to compete in FIFA Online 3 esports tournaments.[29]

2018

On 7 January 2018, EDG won the Demacia Cup Winter with a 3–1 victory over Snake Esports.[30]

In the 2018 LPL Spring Split, EDG advanced to the playoffs after finishing first in the regular season, defeating Rogue Warriors before losing to RNG in the finals and finishing runners-up.[31]

On 4 May 2018, EDG announced the completion of a nearly ¥100 million Pre-A round of financing, with the joint lead investor being the China Idol Entertainment Industry Fund, which is dominated by Capital and CIC Zhongcai.[32]

2020

EDG placed sixth in the regular season of the 2020 LPL Spring Split with a record of 9 wins and 7 losses. In the first round of the playoffs, they defeated RNG and advanced to the second round. In the second round, they lost 1–3 to FunPlus Phoenix (FPX). EDG placed ninth in the regular season of the 2020 LPL Summer Split with a record of 8 wins and 8 losses and failed to qualify for the playoffs; the team's worst domestic performance to date.

Roster

Edward Gaming roster
Players	Coaches
Role Handle Name Nationality Top Flandre  Li Xuanjun  China  Top Xiaoxiang  Huang Xiang  China  Jungle Clearlove  Ming Kai  China  Jungle Jiejie  Zhao Lijie  China  Mid Gori  Kim Tae-woo  South Korea  Mid Scout  Lee Ye-chan  South Korea  Bot Hope  Wang Jie  China  Bot Viper  Park Do-hyeon  South Korea  Support Meiko  Tian Ye  China	Head coach Yang "Maokai" Jisong Assistant coach(es) Cheng "CorGi" Pin-lun Legend (2W) Two-way player (I) Inactive (S) Suspended Substitute player Injury/Illness Latest roster transaction: 16 December 2020.

Honours

League

• League of Legends Pro League (LPL)
  • Winners (5): 2014 Spring, 2014 Summer, 2015 Spring, 2016 Summer, 2017 Summer

Cup

• Demacia Cup
  • Winners (5): 2014 Season 2, 2015 Spring, 2015 Summer, 2016 Season, Championship 2017 Season

Worldwide

• Mid-Season Invitational
  • Winners (1): 2015

References

1. Moser, Kelsey (3 September 2014). "Edward Gaming: Return to Power".
2. Luwei, Ryan (29 August 2014). "Seeking Greatness: The story behind the formation of Edward Gaming". onGamers. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
3. Edward Gaming's Tencent Weibo Post (Chinese) t.qq.com
4. Edward Gaming's Tencent Weibo Post (Chinese) t.qq.com
5. Edward Gaming's Tencent Weibo Post (Chinese) t.qq.com
6. Moser, Kelsey (17 June 2014). "OMG vs EDG: Classic in the Making". LoL Esports. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
7. Deft's Twitter Post twitter.com
8. Sashao's Tencent Weibo Post t.qq.com
9. L.ACE冬季转会期名单及公告 (Chinese) acelol.com
10. Edward Gaming's Tencent Weibo Post (Chinese) t.qq.com
11. Edward Gaming's Tencent Weibo Post (Chinese) t.qq.com
12. EDG (16 January 2015). "EDG's Hearthstone division is founded". t.qq.com.
13. Lingle, Samuel (27 April 2015). "Deft's pentakill secures LPL championships for EDward Gaming". The Daily Dot. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
14. "MSI季中邀请赛2015" (in Chinese). Retrieved 21 June 2015.
15. Halliwell, Paul (21 October 2015). "League of Legends World Championship 2015: Fnatic Sweep EDG to Advance to Semis". Power Up Gaming. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
16. "GHL2015风暴英雄黄金总决赛".
17. "RNG勇夺2016LPL春季赛冠军 晋级季中赛". 23 April 2016.
18. "EDG首夺官方世界冠军上演热血盛况 1亿人观看比赛". 18 May 2015.
19. "LPL夏季赛常规赛收官 EDG16连胜创造新纪录". 8 August 2016.
20. "EDG勇夺LPL夏季赛冠军 厂长野区压制起大作用". 28 August 2016.
21. "lols6总决赛10月8日AHQvs EDG 顶住压力EDG获胜出线". 8 October 2016.
22. "S6综述：EDG未能打破八强魔咒 负于ROX". 16 October 2016.
23. "德杯决赛综述：EDG第五次捧杯 周董率队力克体育队". 13 November 2016.
24. "Koro1与Clearlove7上阵助力EDG摘得季军". 23 July 2017.
25. "EDG梦碎武汉，大量粉丝场馆外不愿离去". 15 October 2017.
26. "2017QGC夏季赛决赛：RNGM VS EDGM".
27. "战略结盟 TYLOO与EDG俱乐部正式达成合作". 30 July 2017.
28. "绝地求生成电竞赛事新关注点，超竞集团EDG与Tyloo强强联合". 9 November 2017.
29. "里昂EDG电竞俱乐部成立！ 将战FIFA Online 3". 31 October 2017.
30. "第四局：EDG完美节奏势不可挡 再夺德杯冠军". 7 January 2018.
31. "RNG击败宿敌EDG夺冠 挺进季中冠军赛". 28 April 2018.
32. "EDG完成近亿元Pre-A轮融资，要继续"造星"？". 4 May 2018.

External links

• EDward Gaming on Weibo