Uzi, the Shaquille O'Neal of Chinese esports

China’s most famous esports player and the record holder for kills in League of Legends. Uzi (real name Jian Zihao) led China’s national esports team to a gold medal at the 2018 Asian Games.

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Uzi, the Shaquille O'Neal of Chinese esports

Published: 10:06pm, 20 Sep 2018Updated: 8:08am, 20 Sep 2019

This article originally appeared on ABACUS

Born in 1997, Jian Zihao used to be beaten by his parents for spending too much time on the internet. Now he’s China’s most famous esports player and an Asian Games gold medal winner.

He turned pro in 2012 in League of Legends, adopting the name Uzi. But he also quickly earned another nickname: Mad Dog, for his aggressive play style.

When RNG unveiled its new home court in Beijing, they put picture of Uzi and his teammates in Times Square. (Picture: RNG)

MOBA games like League of Legends are team-based, and every player has a specific role to play. Uzi is the perfect example of an AD Carry: A player who starts out weak but becomes the strongest player late in the game. Uzi has always been the core of his team, with teammates funneling all their resources to him in order for him to quickly scale up and carry the offense.

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In fact, Uzi’s success is pushing people’s imagination of what an AD-Carry-oriented team can do, as League of Legends has traditionally favored more diverse teams.

Remember how the Lakers in the NBA used to constantly feed the ball to the unstoppable Shaquille O'Neal? Uzi is the esports version of that. All the teams that Mad Dog has been on adopted a “Raise the Puppy” strategy.