Victory Five was a Chinese professional esports organisation based in

Shenzhen Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern province ...

. It was owned by Mario Ho, head of

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a p ...

's esports association and son of the late Stanley Ho. It had teams competing in ''

League of Legends ''League of Legends'' (''LoL''), commonly referred to as ''League'', is a 2009 multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Riot Games. Inspired by '' Defense of the Ancients'', a custom map for ''Warcraft III'', ...

'' and ''

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds ''PUBG: Battlegrounds'' (previously known as ''PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds'') is a battle royale game developed by PUBG Studios and published by Krafton. The game, which was inspired by the Japanese film '' Battle Royale'' (2000), is based ...

''. Plans to merge Victory Five and

Ninjas in Pyjamas Ninjas in Pyjamas (NIP) is a professional esports organisation based in Sweden that is best known for its '' Counter-Strike'' teams. In 2012, the team reformed with a '' Counter Strike: Global Offensive'' lineup upon the release of the game. As ...

(NiP) were announced on 9 July 2020 by the teams' respective owners. The merger was completed on 10 August 2021, and, on 6 January 2023, Victory Five was dissolved and its teams were rebranded as NiP China.

''League of Legends''

History

Victory Five entered the professional ''

'' scene on 30 November 2018, when their application to the ''League of Legends'' Pro League (LPL), China's top-level league for the game, was accepted. Along with

SinoDragon Gaming ThunderTalk Gaming (commonly shortened to TT Gaming or TT) is a professional ''League of Legends'' team competing in the League of Legends Pro League (LPL), the top level of professional ''League of Legends'' in China. It was founded on 25 Decem ...

, Victory Five joined the league as part of its expansion from 14 to 16 teams. Victory Five's inaugural roster consisted of top laner Lim "Jinoo" Jin-woo, junglers Tu "Ben4" Xincheng and Hu "Pepper" Zhiwei, mid laner Lei "Corn" Wen, bot laner Wang "y4" Nongmo, and supports Le "Ley" Yi and Yun "Road" Han-gil, with Tsai "DOG8" Hsueh-yu as head coach. The team finished 13th in the 2019 LPL Spring Split with a 4–11 record. Victory Five replaced almost their entire roster for the 2019 LPL Summer Split, except for Ben4 and y4. Jinoo was traded to Edward Gaming in exchange for mid laner Li "Mole" Haoyan on 23 May 2019. Two days later on 25 May 2019, it was announced that top laner Huang "Aliez" Hao, mid laner Tao "Windy" Xiang, and support Li "Max" Xiaoqiang would be promoted from Victory Five's academy roster, V5 87. Despite the late addition of Hou "Otto" Guoyu, Victory Five finished 12th in the regular season with a 5–10 record. In the 2020 LPL Spring Split the team set a league record for most consecutive losses, failing to win a single series and winning only one game against the second-last team,

LNG Esports LNG Esports is a Chinese professional esports organization based in Suzhou. It was known as Snake Esports from its creation in 2013 until its acquisition by sportswear company Li-Ning in 2019. LNG's main ''League of Legends'' team competes in t ...

. The team's performance was hindered throughout the season by the

COVID-19 pandemic in China The COVID-19 pandemic in China is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). China was the first country to experience an outbreak of the ...

, as several of their players lived within quarantine zones and were forbidden from leaving. Victory Five revamped their roster prior to the 2020 LPL Summer Split; top laner Yu "Biubiu" Leixin, jungler Wei "Weiwei" Bohan, and bot laner Lee "Samd" Jae-hoon were acquired from

Suning Suning may refer to: * Suning.com, a Chinese retailer, originally corner Jiangsu Road and Ninghai Road, co-founded by Zhang Jindong, was known as Suning Appliance Co., Ltd. and Suning Commerce Group Co., Ltd. * Suning Holdings Group, the fourth lar ...

, while prospective rookie Guo "ppgod" Peng joined from FunPlus Blaze as the team's new support.

Final roster

Tournament results

Organisation

The Swedish esports organisation

(NIP) announced on 9 July 2020 that it planned to merge with ESV5, a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and economic risk, risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four rea ...

between eStar Gaming and Victory Five, to establish a new entity which would be listed on the

Nasdaq Stock Market The Nasdaq Stock Market () (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Stock Market) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the US by volume, and ranked second ...

. The merger was actualised on 10 August 2021, with plans for Victory Five to rebrand under the NIP name by the end of 2022. Hong Kong rapper

Jackson Wang Jackson Wang (; ko, 왕잭슨; born 28 March 1994) is a Hong Kong rapper, singer, dancer, record producer, fashion designer, and music video director. He is the founder of record label Team Wang and is the creative director and lead designer ...

joined Victory Five as an investor in September 2020. Victory Five also partnered with Team Holding, owned by Wang.

References

External links

* 2018 establishments in China 2023 disestablishments in China Esports teams established in 2018 Esports teams based in China Former League of Legends Pro League teams Defunct and inactive PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds teams {{Esports-organization-stub