UPDATE: Chaox has stated that this is untrue and he will continue his attempt at playing in China.
Today, Shan “Chaox” Huang announced that he was officially done with pursuing professional League of Legends. Although not the first time that he has made this claim, it seems like he means it this time.
Chaox was most well known for his time as the AD Carry player for popular North American organization, Team Solomid. Joining as the support player during season one, he quickly moved into his most famous role after the departure of Choi “Locodoco” Yoon-sub. Chaox achieved many LAN and online victories with his team throughout seasons one and two, his biggest accomplishment being a first place victory in the Season 2 North American Regionals with a 2-0 sweep against Team Dignitas.
During the first Spring split of the League of Legends Championship Series, Chaox was infamously replaced with WildTurtle. His benching was largely attributed to ignoring practice schedules and putting off team commitments for personal activities. This was the first time that he retired, taking a break from the game in order to travel Asia and learn about the eSports environment in the Chinese and SEA regions.
A few months later, in October of the same year, Chaox announced that he would be returning to the competitive scene. After subbing for several challenger level teams but never officially joining a roster, he resided to coaching, becoming the head coach of Team Coast in June of 2014.
Just over a month later, however, he choose to try once again to return as a player and left his position at Team Coast. Eventually, it was revealed that he would move to China alongside several other players to prepare a brand new team for the LCS, Roar. After failing to qualify for the Spring Split of 2015 the team disbanded and reformed as a Chinese based semi-professional team. The team played in the DoYuTV sponsored minor league in China, a tournament below even the Chinese challenger scene.
Today’s retirement announcement was accompanied with a message on his stream:
“My only regret was that I did not listen to Reggie to secure my place on the team. With me on the roster we had our best shot at Worlds and I blew it. So much time I wasted pursuing another eSports career that I could have spent being in college. It is from today that I officially retire.”
After many years of failing post-TSM, it would seem that he is finally done with trying to recapture the eSports dream. His story pays a strikingly similar resemblance to that of Christian “The Rain Man” Kahmann, the former top lane player of Team Solomid who became essentially irrelevant to the scene after stepping down from the team. We at eSports Guru wish the best to Chaox in whatever he decides to pursue post-eSports and League of Legends.
What do you think about his retirement announcement? Let us know in the comments below and remember to follow us here at eSports Guru for all your competitive League of Legends needs.
