Chengdu Hunters

Chengdu Hunters (simplified Chinese: 成都猎人; traditional Chinese: 成都獵人; pinyin: Chéngdū Lièrén) is a Chinese professional Overwatch esports team based in Chengdu, China. The Hunters compete in the Overwatch League (OWL) as a member of the league's East region. The team is owned by Huya, Inc., a Chinese interactive broadcast platform and was operated by Royal Never Give Up (RNG) throughout the 2019 and 2020 OWL seasons. The Hunters formerly had partnership with Overwatch Contenders the team LGE.Huya to act as the team's academy team.

Chengdu Hunters
成都猎人
FoundedSeptember 7, 2018
LeagueOverwatch League
RegionEast
Team historyChengdu Hunters
(2018–present)
Based inChengdu, China
Colors       
OwnerHuya, Inc.
Head coachWang "RUI" Xingrui
General managerChen "Cc" Jiancheng
Affiliation(s)Team Chaser
Main sponsorHuya
WebsiteOfficial website
Uniforms
Chengdu Hunters
Simplified Chinese成都猎人
Traditional Chinese成都獵人

Founded in 2018, Chengdu Hunters began play as one of eight expansion teams in 2019 and is one of four professional Overwatch teams in China. Since their inaugural season in 2019, the Hunters have qualified for the season playoffs once, in 2021.

Franchise history

OWL expansion

On September 7, 2018, Activision Blizzard announced that domestic game livestream platform Huya, Inc. had purchased an expansion team based in Chengdu, later revealed as Chengdu Hunters,[1] for the Overwatch League's second season.[2] While the team was owned by Huya, they would be operated by Chinese esports organization Royal Never Give Up.[3]

Early years: 2019–present

Chengdu's first ever regular season OWL match was a 3–2 victory over the Guangzhou Charge on February 15, 2019.[4] After posting three consecutive 3–4 records for the first three stages, the Hunters failed to qualify for any of the Stage Playoffs.[5] A 4–3 record in Stage 4 gave Chengdu 13–15 record for the season and qualified them for the Play-In Tournament, where they were eliminated in the first round by the Guangzhou Charge by a 1–4 scoreline.[6]

In September 2020, the Hunters announced that they had ended their partnership with Royal Never Give Up.[7]

Team identity

On November 12, 2018, the Chengdu Hunters brand was officially unveiled. The team name was chosen "as a symbol of the team’s dedication to pursuing the honor of the league." The logo, a black and gold giant panda, was chosen because "it is the national treasure of China, the symbol of Chengdu, and a symbol of peace and good luck. At the same time, the panda also boasts powerful fighting strength and represents the Chinese spirit of perseverance, and collectively with the team’s name, represents the team’s determination to achieve victory." The colors represent vigor and steadiness, and contain the main colors of Huya and NRG, meant to represent the collaboration of the two companies.[8]

Home arena
  • Wuliangye Chengdu Performing Arts Centre (2020)[9]

Personnel

Current roster
Chengdu Hunters roster
PlayersCoaches
RoleNo.HandleNameNationality
Damage  23 leave  Huang Xin  China 
Damage  9 Jimmy  Lei Yuija  China 
Damage  24 JinMu  Yi Hu  China 
Damage  21 TAROCOOK1E  Zhong Yunlong  China 
Tank  46 GA9A  Qiu Jiaxin  China 
Support  10 Nisha  Tan Li  China 
Support  29 Yveltal (2W)  Li Xianyao  China 
Support  87 Farway1987  Cao Jiale  China 
Support  89 Mmonk  Zhou Xiang  China 
Head coach
  • Wang "RUI" Xingrui
Legend

Latest roster transaction: October 8, 2021.

Head coaches
Chengdu Hunters head coaches
Handle Name From To Span Ref.
Rui Wang Xingrui (王星睿) November 26, 2018 November 17, 2019 356 days [10][11]
Dokkaebi Wu Xiuqing January 14, 2020 July 27, 2020 195 days [12][13]
Ray Chang Chia-Hua January 14, 2020 September 18, 2020 248 days [12][14]
Chen Chen Murong July 27, 2020 September 18, 2020 53 days [15][16]
Rui Wang Xingrui (王星睿) September 18, 2020 1 year, 84 days [17]

Awards and records

Seasons overview
Season P W L W% Finish Playoffs
2019 28 13 15 .464 8th, Pacific Did not qualify
2020 21 7 14 .333 9th, Asia Did not qualify
2021 16 11 5 .688 2nd, East Lost in Lower Round 2, 2–3 (Shock)

Individual accomplishments

Season MVP

Role Star selections

  • Leave (Xin Huang) – 2021

All-Star Game selections

  • Yveltal (Li Xianyao) – 2019
  • Ameng (Menghan Ding) – 2019, 2020
  • JinMu (Yi Hu) – 2019

Academy team
Main article: LGE.Huya

On January 27, 2019, LinGan e-Sports Club announced their partnership with the Chengdu Hunters and became the academy team. LinGan e-Sports changed the name of their Overwatch team to LGE.Huya.[18]

References
  1. Byers, Preston (November 11, 2018). "Chengdu's Overwatch League team reveals its name and logo—Chengdu Hunters". Dot Esports. Retrieved November 11, 2018.
  2. Rand, Emily (September 7, 2018). "Overwatch League reveals Toronto, Paris, and four other new franchises". ESPN. Retrieved November 11, 2018.
  3. Qu, Bonnie (February 8, 2019). "Hunters bank on Chinese talent for Overwatch League debut". ESPN. Retrieved October 8, 2021.
  4. August, Charlotte (February 16, 2019). "Overwatch Esports: Overwatch League Day 2 Recap". ESTNN. Retrieved March 19, 2019.
  5. M., Admir (July 30, 2019). "Chengdu Hunters announce signing of hot prospect and OWWC star Leave". win.gg. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
  6. "Charge, Dragons advance in OWL play-in tourney". ESPN. Rueters. August 31, 2019. Retrieved September 30, 2019.
  7. Chengdu Hunters [@ChengduHunters] (September 18, 2020). "Thanks for our previous partner Royal Never Give Up! We wish success for each other's endeavors!" (Tweet). Retrieved October 8, 2021 – via Twitter.
  8. "Huya Announces Brand New Team—Chengdu Hunters—for 2019 Overwatch League Season" (PDF). Overwatch League. November 11, 2018. Retrieved November 11, 2018.
  9. Hayward, Andrew (August 21, 2019). "Update: Five More OWL Teams Confirm Homestand Venues". The Esports Observer. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
  10. Chengdu Hunters (2018-11-26), Roster Announcement, retrieved 2018-11-27 – via Twitter
  11. McHale, Violet (November 17, 2019). "Chengdu Hunters Head Coach Announces Departure". The Game Haus. Retrieved November 17, 2019.
  12. "Hunters officially add Leave in revealing 2020 roster". Reuters. January 15, 2020. Retrieved January 16, 2020.
  13. Chengdu Hunters. "(Translated from Mandarin) From now on the coaching staff, Dokkaebi (Wu Xiuqing) will step down as the co-head coach of the Chengdu Hunters. I wish you all the best in the future!". Weibo. Retrieved November 23, 2020.
  14. Chengdu Hunters. "In the past two years with the Hunters, Coach Ray and the team have experienced ups and downs together. We thank him for his hard work during his tenure, and sincerely wish him all the best in the future!". Twitter. Retrieved November 23, 2020.
  15. Chengdu Hunters. "(Translated from Mandarin) The coaching staff welcomes coach Chen!". Weibo. Retrieved November 23, 2020.
  16. Chengdu Hunters. "We are incredibly grateful for the changes and surprises brought to the team by Coach Chen, and we sincerely hope that everything goes well for him in his future!". Twitter. Retrieved November 23, 2020.
  17. Chengdu Hunters. "Welcome home, RUI!". Twitter. Retrieved November 23, 2020.
  18. "LinGan e-Sports partners with Chengdu Hunters". Weibo (Chinese). Retrieved 12 April 2019.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.