So the expectations are the same when Luo and the rest of BLG take the stage on Monday for their first round match against BNK FEARX at First Stand 2026 in São Paulo, Brazil.
Advertisement
Nothing less than a victory will be enough.
“The goal is definitely the team champion,” Luo said.
BLG has won pretty much everything there is to win when it comes to China’s League of Legends Professional League (LPL). Since Luo joined the team for the first spring split of 2023, BLG has never finished worse than fifth in any LPL split. They have qualified for the Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) and the World Championship during Luo’s time in the support role.
But while domestic success has been seemingly easy to come by, BLG has been on the verge of winning a major international event on more than one occasion.
Advertisement
In three appearances, BLG finished second twice (2023 and 2024) and fourth (2025), losing to top Korean team Gen.G (2024) and Chinese rivals JD Gaming (2023) and Everyone’s Legend (2025).
BLG also had a good showing at the World Championship, peaking with a final five-game loss to T1 and legendary mid laner Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok in 2024.
The streak of success highlighted how much the team has grown in Luo’s three-plus years. BLG went through a cultural shift, requiring the team to come together as a cohesive unit rather than an individual collection of stars. The work has paid off.
“We didn’t really focus much on the game, and we just played individually, like all the lanes, we just did our part,” Luo said. “But now we realize it’s a game of teamwork. We really need to make sure all five of us are on the same page.”
Advertisement
A lot of this has to do with Luo being a stable force in the bottom lane as a support. He was named to the LPL All-Pro Second Team in the first division. He has totaled approximately 8,400 assists with a 70.5 percent shot participation rate in 824 phase matches.
He’s experimented with 44 different champions throughout his career, but there’s something special about the overall meta of the game in a single division. You’re seeing a growing importance in the bot lane role.
“The bot lane played an even bigger role in this split,” he said. “Team synergy really counts for a lot.”
One of the things that excites him about the current state of the game: Annie’s flexible draft potential. Annie, a character with powerful abilities, is primarily used in the mid lane, but Luo said there’s a chance the pick could shift to the support role given the aggression in the current landscape. To date, Luo has a game with Annie as support.
Advertisement
While understanding the meta is valuable, at the end of the day, execution will be necessary if BLG plans to shake off its lack of international trophies. BLG was ranked fourth in the world’s first power rankings and was the highest-ranked non-Korean team.
They will face the 13th-ranked team, BNK FEARX, who finished second in the last LCK division. They will need to win consecutive games to advance to the same group as Gen.G, widely considered the best team in the world.
Regardless of who BLG plays, Luo and his teammates will see this as an opportunity to show the world that Korea is not far ahead of the LPL.
“I’m very excited that we had the opportunity to play games against such strong teams,” he said. “Hopefully we can show our talent against them on stage.”
Advertisement
BLG has been on this stage before. He knows what it takes to get close. The question now is whether closeness is finally enough.
Paul Delos Santos covers the fighting game community and Riot Games ecosystem for The Sporting Tribune and Inside Esports, a newsletter published every Tuesday and Friday. Subscribe at insideesports.media.