One of the best offlane players in the world, Faith_bian expressed his wish to leave behind the competitive play after The International 2022 (TI11), while also providing a behind the scene view into the TI10 grand finals.
With the TI10 True Sight about to be released in just a couple of days, PSG.LGD’s offlaner Zhang "Faith_bian" Ruida announced on Weibo that TI11 is going to be his last ride and shared a five pages analysis of what happened from PSG.LGD’s perspective in the TI10 grand finals where the Chinese team was defeated 3-2 by Team Spirit.
I want to tell everyone that I will retire permanently from Dota 2 after TI11, saying goodbye to the competitive scene and opening a new chapter in my life.
I’ve been thinking about this for a while and I think it’s the right thing to do, though inevitably with a little bit of regret - Faith_bian
Faith_bian is regarded as one of the greatest offlane players to have ever graced the game and definitely one of the most successful in his role. In his eight years career, he took home the most coveted Dota 2 trophy, the Aegis of Champions, in 2016 with Wings Gaming and was one game away from repeating the feat at TI10 with PSG.LGD.
To the present day, Wings Gaming’s run at TI6 remains one of the most spectacular and one of the biggest Cinderella stories in Dota 2.
Apart from his extremely powerful showings on the TI stages, Faith_bian took numerous first places under the Wings and the PSG.LGD banner. Since 2020, when he joined PSG.LGD, he brought home seven championship titles, including a Major trophy.
At TI10, PSG.LGD was regarded as a heavy favourite for the title, however, Team Spirit delivered a huge upset taking down the Chinese juggernaut 3-2 in the grand finals.
According to Faith_bian, he wrote his thoughts on the TI10 grand finals 10 days after the tournament concluded, but due to the huge negativity wave from PSG.LGD’s fans, especially in China, the organization did not allow him to post the letter at that time.
A full translation of Faith_bian’s letter was provided on Twitter by Alliances’ assistant coach, Arthur.
Ahead of TI11, PSG.LGD is once again regarded as the favourite at the title. They head into the most important tournament of the year as one the most constant teams and definitely all eyes will be on them.
For now, I just wanted to say, to both my teammates and my opponents, that I am more than determined for the matches to come. As a pro player, I’ll do everything I can do, and make every endeavor possible, whatever the final results.
As long as I did that, I’ll have no regret even if I ended in last place in TI - Faith_bian
The International 11 is set to begin on the 8th of October with the 12 teams that secured a spot in the Last Chance qualifiers which will be held on LAN, but behind closed doors in Singapore. PSG.LGD and Faith_bian will start their run for the Aegis in the group stage, beginning October 15.
