{"id":171002,"date":"2025-08-24T05:58:30","date_gmt":"2025-08-24T05:58:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/171002\/"},"modified":"2025-08-24T05:58:30","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T05:58:30","slug":"sheep-esports-lol-lpl-jiejie-officially-joins-funplus-phoenix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/171002\/","title":{"rendered":"Sheep Esports &#8211; LoL &#8211; LPL: Jiejie officially joins FunPlus Phoenix"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>JieJie becomes the FPX&#8217;s fifth jungler since the start of the year<\/p>\n<p class=\"my-[2em] text-base text-white md:text-lg\"><a class=\"underline transition hover:opacity-50\" href=\"https:\/\/stats.sheepesports.com\/team\/32\/2025\/split-3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\"><strong>FunPlus Phoenix<\/strong><\/a> has announced the signing of Zhao \u201c<a class=\"underline transition hover:opacity-50\" href=\"https:\/\/stats.sheepesports.com\/player\/3330\/2025\/split-2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\"><strong>JieJie<\/strong><\/a>\u201d Li-Jie, who officially joins the roster after <a class=\"underline transition hover:opacity-50\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sheepesports.com\/en\/articles\/lol-lpl-invictus-gaming-parts-ways-with-jiejie\/en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\"><strong>parting ways with Invictus Gaming<\/strong><\/a> earlier this month. The move marks FPX\u2019s fifth change in the jungle role this year, underscoring the team\u2019s ongoing search for stability in one of the most crucial positions on the Rift.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"FPX\u2019s official announcement of JieJie, translated into English by Google. Sources: FPX's Weibo Account.\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"0\" height=\"0\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"h-full w-full\" style=\"color:transparent\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1756015110_532_image\"\/><\/p>\n<p>FPX\u2019s official announcement of JieJie, translated into English by Google. Sources: FPX&#8217;s Weibo Account.<\/p>\n<p class=\"my-[2em] text-base text-white md:text-lg\">For JieJie, the transfer represents both a fresh start and a high-stakes gamble. The 23-year-old jungler is best known for his long and decorated tenure with <strong>EDward Gaming<\/strong>, where he claimed the <strong>Summoner\u2019s Cup in 2021<\/strong> and earned a reputation as one of the LPL\u2019s most consistent and level-headed players. His career, however, has been on a different trajectory since leaving EDG.<\/p>\n<p>Sidelined by Invictus Gaming<\/p>\n<p class=\"my-[2em] text-base text-white md:text-lg\">JieJie joined Invictus Gaming at the beginning of 2025 as part of an ambitious \u201c<strong>super team<\/strong>\u201d project built around veteran talent. Expectations were high, but the results fell short of qualifying for international competition. IG placed 7th\u20138th in Split 1, then rallied to a third-place finish in Split 2. The improvement, however, was not enough to secure a spot at the <strong>Mid-Season Invitational<\/strong> or the <strong>Esports World Cup<\/strong>, with <strong>Anyone\u2019s Legend<\/strong> and <strong>Bilibili Gaming<\/strong> carrying the LPL banner instead.<\/p>\n<p class=\"my-[2em] text-base text-white md:text-lg\">Though JieJie showed flashes of his old composure, he struggled to bring a title or lead the team to an international event. <a class=\"underline transition hover:opacity-50\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sheepesports.com\/en\/articles\/lol-wei-joins-invictus-gaming-in-the-lpl\/en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">When IG signed Yan \u201c<strong>Wei<\/strong>\u201d Yang-Wei<\/a>, coming from BLG at the start of Split 3, JieJie found himself sidelined completely \u2014 no scrim time, no matchday appearances, and weeks spent away from the team. His eventual departure was widely expected, ending what became a short-lived and bittersweet chapter in his career.<\/p>\n<p>A chance at revival<\/p>\n<p class=\"my-[2em] text-base text-white md:text-lg\">Now, JieJie steps into FPX, a team that has cycled through junglers at a dizzying pace in 2025. The role was first occupied by Li &#8220;sorrow&#8221; De-Ming before being quickly replaced by Zhao &#8220;Shad0w&#8221; Zhi-Qiang at the beginning of the year. As <a class=\"underline transition hover:opacity-50\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sheepesports.com\/en\/articles\/lol-shad0w-joins-bilibili-gaming-in-the-lpl\/en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Shad0w went to BiliBili Gaming after Split 2<\/a>, the team shifted to play with Ma &#8220;iyy&#8221; Chen-Shuo, their academy jungler, for Split 3, before welcoming Cai &#8220;milkyway&#8221; Zi-Jun back <a class=\"underline transition hover:opacity-50\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sheepesports.com\/en\/articles\/lol-lpl-milkyway-takes-legal-action-after-suspension-over-matchfixing-allegations\/en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">for a short period of time<\/a>. They now bring in a former world champion, signaling an intent to stabilize their roster with experience and leadership, finally. JieJie\u2019s trademark reliability could be the anchor they need \u2014 if he can find synergy with the squad and adapt to their evolving playstyle in a very short time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"my-[2em] text-base text-white md:text-lg\">The story of FPX and JieJie is now tied together by necessity. A team desperate for consistency and a player eager for redemption. One thing is certain: the end of this season and the remainder of Split 3 will lay the foundations for a potential rebuild of FunPlus Phoenix next year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duration-200 transition inline-block w-auto px-5 py-3 my-2 hover:bg-white\/20 text-sm rounded-xl md:text-base bg-white\/10\">Header Photo Credit: FunPlus Phoenix \/ Sheep Esports<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sheepesports.com\/authors\/clement-chocat\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">&#8211; Cl\u00e9ment Chocat &#8211;<\/a>\/Comments<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-2xl __className_5625f3 [letter-spacing:2px]\">Write a comment<\/p>\n<p>Add Comment<\/p>\n<p>PreviousNext<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JieJie becomes the FPX&#8217;s fifth jungler since the start of the year FunPlus Phoenix has announced the signing&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":171003,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5131],"tags":[5229,5643,1587,1589,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-171002","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-phoenix","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-arizona","10":"tag-az","11":"tag-phoenix","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-united-states-of-america","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","16":"tag-us","17":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115082212430371457","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171002\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}