EDward Gaming cooks with stew

EDward Gaming EDward Gaming China Rank #4 ZmjjKK Zheng Yongkang (郑永康) nobody Wang Senxu (王森旭) CHICHOO Wan Shunzhi (万顺治) Smoggy Zhang Zhao (张钊) Jieni7 Zhang Juntai (张君泰) stew Park Young-chan (박영찬) has signed former JD Gaming JD Gaming China Rank #5 jkuro Yong Haochong (杨浩聪) zhe Niu Zhe (牛哲) Yuicaw Huang Yung-chieh (黃湧傑) crownfisher Li Ao (李翱) BerLIN Zhang Bolin (張柏霖) and Rare Atom Rare Atom China Rank #6 Potter Sutthichai Promsrikaew Guran Zhou Minyan (周铭言) nnono Croudy Ben1Ley Shi Benyu Z1yan Liu Zihan (刘紫涵) star Park "stew" Young-chan (박영찬), bolstering its ranks ahead of a home-ground Champions Shanghai.

stew parted ways with JDG after Stage 1, meaning his mark of no matches played in Stage 2 for another VCT team will allow him to play for EDG in Shanghai. He left JDG following a stay at the org that lasted over two years, dating back to the beginning of the 2024 season. He joined after competing for a talented Rare Atom squad in 2023 that was not chosen as a partner team in China and finished second at China Ascension.

stew with Rare Atom in 2023. (Photo by China Evolution Series)

Before making the move to China, stew also played for Gwangju Shadow Gwangju Shadow Inactive Ivy Park Sung-hyeon (박성현) Distinct Kim Sun-myeong (김선명) Francis Kim Mu-bin (김무빈) Dambi Lee Hyuk-kyu (이혁규) alongside the likes of UdoTan , yoman , and Wolverine . Over the years, he has developed a reputation as one of the best Duelists in VCT China, arguably reaching the summit in Stage 2, where he finished with the joint-highest rating and the standalone highest ACS in the region. All five of his most-played agents all-time are Duelists, as are six of his top seven agents. This background, paired with recent developments with him in the Controller and Sentinel roles, is expected to add a crucial fold into EDG's plans moving forward.

All year long, EDG has maintained its position as one of the top teams in China, but has shown cracks in the armor, particularly with the double-Duelist meta that has dominated the year. Finding a Duelist partner for Champions Seoul MVP ZmjjKK has proven to be tough.

At China Kickoff and Masters Santiago, EDG's answer was seemingly new signing cb forming a go-to double-Duelist pairing. In Stage 1, EDG benched cb for Jieni7 , who combined with Controller player Smoggy to pick up secondary Duelist duties. In Stage 2, EDG looked to continue that, but to mixed results. While EDG has already qualified to Champs on points, Smoggy, as of the writing of this article, has the lowest rating of any Duelist player in the Play-Ins.

stew's arrival should expect to add some stability to the EDG agent pool. Should Jieni7 be the one benched in his favor, EDG should expect to see Smoggy back on his natural Controller role, CHICHOO primarily playing the Sentinel role, and in-game leader nobody on Initiator duties.

With stew onboard, EDG has assembled what appears, on paper, to be one of the strongest teams in VCT China's history.

Wang "nobody" Senxu (王森旭)
Zheng "ZmjjKK" Yongkang (郑永康)
Wan "CHICHOO" Shunzhi (万顺治)
Zhang "Smoggy" Zhao (张钊)
Zhang "Jieni7" Juntai (张君泰)
Park "stew" Young-chan (박영찬)
Zhang "zjc" Juncheng (张峻程)
Jin "Hibari" Xingyu (金星宇) (Manager)
Yoon "Autumn" Eu-teum (윤으뜸) (Head coach)
Seol "Indigo" Do-hoon (설도훈) (Coach)
Dale "signed" Tang (Coach)