With Zhang “Paparazi” Chengjun bidding farewell and leaving Xtreme Gaming to enter an early retirement, the Chinese Dota 2 community is saying goodbye to yet another renowned player. One of the most productive midlaners in Chinese Dota, Paparazi spent years guiding a fledgling iG Vitality team before emerging as one of Vici Gaming’s greatest threats. He participated in four consecutive editions of The International, beginning with TI7, before XG just missed qualifying for TI11 last season.
Since that failed qualifier run, XG has failed to live up to their hype in what started 2023 out as a weakened China region. Even with a strong overall roster led by Ding “Dy” Cong, the team only qualified for a single Major this season and was eliminated in Berlin during round one of the playoffs.
Without enough points to qualify directly for TI12 this season, and a poor 15th placement at Riyadh Masters 2023 against a field of soon-to-be TI competitors, it appears Paparazi had seen enough to know his days at the top of Dota were at an end. Though, according to his retirement announcement on July 31, this was something he actually wanted to do prior to this season.
XG noted on Weibo that Paparazi notified the team he wanted to retire following TI11’s conclusion last October—reportedly due to physical issues that limited his ability to play in some way. No details were shared, but the veteran seemingly remained with the team this season because they needed him to do so, though we will have to see if this retirement actually sticks.
This is not the first time rumors of Paparazi walking away from the competitive scene have popped up, and according to CN Dota In a Nutshell, he talked about retiring as recently as July 5.
Multiple other pros and former pros like Somnus also commented on Paparazi’s situation prior to this announcement, noting that he is still a fantastic player but “is defeated by himself in some ways.” Even his current teammate XinQ reportedly said that Paparazi “doesn’t want to play anymore” right before Riyadh started.
With Paparazi’s retirement, XG has signed Piggy Killer midlaner Guo “Xm” Hongcheng ahead of China’s TI qualifiers. He is a veteran player who has bounced around between teams like Vici and EHOME since 2017, which will hopefully translate to a quick introduction.
This could also be great news for teams like Team Aster, Invictus Gaming, and Azure Ray since one of their rivals now has to swap players at the last second—potentially opening an easier path to secure the final spot for the region at TI12 when the qualifiers start on Aug. 17.