Zhang ‘Paparazi’ Chengjun is a 21-year-old Chinese esports player that trains in Dota 2 for his present team, Vici Gaming. He practices in the carry position playing his best performances with his dota heroes Lifestealer, Sven and Slark. He made a name for himself in January 2016, when he became the first dota player to reach 8000 MMR playing on Chinese servers.
Chengjun likes to spend his free time watching anime series and occasionally plays computer games like Geometry Dash and Tricky Towers. Being a professional gamer, travelling has become a part of his life and spend his free time walking around the streets seeing the important cultural sights.
Where it all began:
He was always fascinated by computer games starting out with Defense of the Ancients. He would also follow the esports tournaments shown on TV aspiring that one day he too will become a professional Dota player.
His professional gaming career in Dota 2 started back in June 2015, when he joined his first esports team, Immortal Magneto Gaming. Zhang learnt and improved his gaming skills before moving on to play for other squads, FanTuan, Invictus Gaming and IG Vitality before signing up with Vici Gaming.
The Team:
Vici Gaming is a Chinese esports organisation that was established in October 2012 with its headquarters based in Shanghai. Over the years, VG has expanded to support teams that compete in CS: GO, Dota 2, FIFA, League of Legends, Starcraft and Warcraft.
Vici Gaming created Dota back in 2012 with the help of former player Fengdidi who played for PanDarea Gaming chose the skilled players to best represent his new team. The current dota roster consists of Fenrir as captain, Paparazi, Ori, eLeVeN and LaNm.
Competition Participation:
The most recent wins that Zhang and his team Vici Gaming have recently participated in China qualifying matches of the EPICENTER XL, DreamLeague Season 9, GESC: Indonesia Dota 2 Minor, StarLadder i-League Invitational #4. Some of the prestigious premier and major esports tournaments also include The Bucharest Major, ESL One Genting 2018, Captains Draft 4.0 and Perfect World Masters.
Vici Gaming’s Paparazi has the knowledge of what dota skills he can improve on as well as his mistakes in-game. After he has had the opportunity of competing against top dota teams like VGJ.Thunder, Team Liquid, Newbee, Virtus.Pro, LGD Gaming, Team Secret, EHOME, Mineski and LFY.
Winnings:
The most memorable event for Paparazi was at the World Cyber Arena 2016 playing for IG Vitality. The finals saw the top dota team win over Vici Gaming with an incredible score of 3-2 to win the esports competition to claim their well-deserved prize of a remarkable $344K.
The second great win in Chengjun’s pro gaming career was at the most recent ESL One Katowice 2018 competing for Vici Gaming. The top dota team went through the Group Stages advancing to the Semi-Finals defeating Team Liquid. Going on to the Finals, Vici lost to the Champions Virtus.Pro, to finish in second, taking home a reward of a staggering $200K.
A personal achievement for Paparazi was winning the Dota 2 Asia Championships 2017 Solo Tournament. The match saw Chengjun beat the likes of top dota players like Sumail, Sccc and Miracle.
