Taiwanese esports organisation J Team is set to replace eStar in the LPL for 2020 and beyond. It comes after league officials reportedly notified teams that they would not be expanding from their 17-team model next year.
eStar are set to exit the LPL just 12 months after they joined the prestigious Chinese League of Legends tournament.
According to reports from Chinese insiders, Taiwanese organisation J Team are set to take over eStar’s spot in LPL Spring 2020.
It comes after eStar had a promising start to their time in the LPL. They finished fifth in LPL Spring 2020, before bowing out of the playoffs in the quarterfinals. They fell to 16th come Summer though, having made a couple of changes between splits.
eStar were backed by Chinese top lane star Liu “PDD” Mou of Invictus Gaming fame. Their roster was home to the likes of former Suning mid laner Huang “Fenfen” Chen and LMS champion Liu “ShiauC” Chia-Hao.
League officials have reportedly told LPL teams that they are not planning on expanding from their 17-team model in 2021.
J Team are the spiritual descendants of Taipei Assassins, the organisation that won the League of Legends World Championship in Season 2.
They formed in 2016, have won three LMS/PCS regular seasons, and one title in LMS Summer 2019. They also attended Worlds in 2019, finishing third in Group C behind eventual World champions FunPlus Phoenix and European hopefuls Splyce.
J Team barely missed out on Worlds 2020. Despite finishing first in PCS Summer 2020 regular season, they were swept out of the playoffs by eventual winners Machi Esports.
They have the backing of Jay Chou, one of Taiwan’s most popular singers and actors. J Team is also sponsored by the Taipei City Government.
J Team, eStar, and the LPL themselves are yet to confirm the reports.
