From September 12 to October 5, the Champions — VALORANT’s World Championship — will take place in Paris. To mark the occasion, Sheep Esports is presenting one of the 16 qualified teams each day, leading up to the start of the tournament. This Tuesday, the countdown begins with the introduction of Xi Lai Gamign Esports, the 4th seed from VCT China.

In last year's Ascension tournament, XLG earned their spot in the league by crushing Rare Atom in the Chinese Grand Final with a clean 3-0. When the season started, XLG started slowly, finishing 5th-6th of the Kickoff. It wasn’t until Split 1 that the team truly came alive and showed its full potential. After finishing second in their Omega group, they powered through playoffs with a new level of confidence. With this dominant run, the Chinese squad locked in the #1 seed for Masters Toronto, their very first international LAN on VALORANT.

An international debut

That LAN, however, came with turbulence. Just before the event, the team benched Yip "YoU" Man-ho for pro-Hong Kong statements, replacing him with Zhang "Midi" Jiajun. The mid-season change seemed costly, as XLG failed to win a single map at the tournament. They were swept 0-2 by Sentinels and then eliminated 0-2 by G2 Esports in the lower bracket. It was a disappointing exit for China’s #1 seed, especially as Wolves went on to surprise everyone by finishing in third place.

Heading into Stage 2, XLG regrouped and continued to build momentum despite another roster change: James "NoMan" Man replaced Zhuo "MarT1n" Zhengjie, while Midi stepped away after his short-term stand-in role in Toronto. XLG went on to finish first in their Omega group but struggled slightly in playoffs, ultimately placing fourth after a lower bracket loss to EDward Gaming. It was far from their strongest finish of their season, but it was enough to guarantee them the #4 seed and a well-deserved ticket to Champions Paris.

A favorable map pool

Throughout 2025, the only map that truly gave XLG trouble was Icebox. With just one win in seven matches (a 14% win rate), the Chinese roster must be relieved that Icebox has been removed from the competitive pool in favor of Abyss. While they have yet to pick up a victory on Abyss across three matches this year, those early results date back to the beginning of the season, and it’s highly likely the team has revisited and refined their strategies on the map since then.

On the flip side, Haven has been a comfort pick with three straight wins, and Bind has seen them succeed in three out of four appearances. Their most played battleground by far, however, has been Lotus — appearing in nearly 22 maps this season — where they boast a solid 59% win rate.

happywei, the ace in the hole

The clear clutch factor for XLG is none other than Teng "happywei" Min-wei, who is expected to be the key figure in the team’s battle for the trophy in Paris. Standing out as one of the best performers in Stage 2 of the VCT CN, the Taiwanese star consistently placed among the Top 10 in nearly every major stat.

He finished fourth overall in ACS (Average Combat Score), averaging close to 250 points across 400 rounds; on Sentinels and Controllers, happywei manages to outshine many duelist players statistically. He also placed third in K:D ratio and second in ADR (Average Damage per Round), proving himself as a cornerstone of XLG’s success and one of the most reliable players in the Chinese scene.

XLG Lineup for VALORANT Champions Paris 2025: