Historically, every TI winning team up until that point had put together a run of good form in the months leading up to Valve’s flagship event. WCA was labelled a joke and Wings’ remarkable run at their first LAN event was unfortunately buried under the horror stories. Their performance was overshadowed, however, by the horrific player conditions at the tournament, which became the hot topic. They went on to reach top four, losing 3-0 to Team Liquid in the 3rd place decider match. Wings followed up the win over Secret with draws against Fnatic and Team Empire to finish top of their group. The score made headlines, but the overlying narrative was that Secret had lost because they were not treating it like a serious tournament. In the opening match of the tournament on stage in front of a live crowd, Wings Gaming took down Team Secret 2-0. Wings Gaming were expected to fight for bottom with Fnatic but then the unexpected happened. Team Secret had recently finished runners-up at the $3 million Frankfurt Major, while Team Empire had placed second at DreamLeague Season 4. Wings Gaming were drawn into group A with Team Empire, Fnatic and Team Secret. WCA2015 was the first time Wings faced foreign opposition, and for many fans outside of China it was the first time they had ever heard of the team. One slot of the 16 at WCA was given to the winners of a Chinese Open Qualifier reserved for up and coming teams, and Wings had won it in style. For Wings, however, the format was perfect. The format for WCA qualification had been bizarre, with global qualifiers held six months before the event was scheduled to take place. In December 2015, after four months of duking it out in the lower tiers of the Chinese domestic scene, Wings flew to Yinchuan, China, for the World Cyber Arena (WCA). There were early signs that Wings Gaming were a threat, but their early strong performances were often disregarded as flukes. However, within the space of a year they were crowned world champions. None of the players had ever won an offline tournament, nor had they ever competed outside China. ![]() ![]() On paper, the Wings Gaming roster that headed into the 2015-2016 season was not exceptional. The final piece of the puzzle was carry player Chu “shadow” Zeyu, who had won a total of just $80 prior to becoming Wings’ position 1. Iceice had no prior competitive experience, but Big God pulled off an outrageous top four finish at the event, placing ahead of heavy weights such as Invictus Gaming, Cloud9 and LGD Gaming.Īfter his cameo, iceice returned to the pub scene, but when Wings Gaming began to assemble their new roster in August 2015, he joined as the team’s new support. Li “iceice” Peng was a widely respected pubstar, who had been handpicked by retired TI4 winner Zhang “XIao8” Ning to play in his casual team, Big God, at DAC2015. Faith_Bian and Innocence were convinced to return to competition, and the trio were joined by two new faces Iceice and Shadow. Post-TI5 Wings Gaming refreshed their entire line-up with BlinK the only survivor. It was not until the start of the 2015-2016 season that the now iconic roster was formed. Wings Gaming and BlinK soldiered on without them, but a joint last place finish at the $3 million Dota 2 Asia Championships (DAC) in February 2015 would be their best offline result in the season. By the end of December 2014, Faith_Bian and Innocence had left the team, and instead of finding a new home, went back to the pubstar lifestyle that had gotten them noticed in the first place. Wings’ start was far from explosive, and in the first four months the team managed winnings of just $5,666. All three got their first break at Speed Gaming.CN in early 2014, and all three were part of Wings Gaming’s first inaugural roster when the organization was formed in the summer of 2014. ![]() The backbone of the TI6 winning roster was Midlaner Zhou “bLInk” Yang, Offlaner Zhang “Faith_bian” Rui Da and Support Zhang “Y/Innocence” YiPing. (Photo courtesy Guinness World Records) The dawn of Wings Gaming Wings were inducted into the Guinness World Records.
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