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Retired as Player
Xpecial
Background Information
NameAlex Chu (朱啓恩)
Country of Birth
United States
BirthdayAugust 12, 1992 (age 32)
Residency
AME
Americas
Prev Residencies
NA
North America
Competitive
Role
Coach
Favorite Champs



Soloqueue IDsXpecíal (EUW), TSM Xpec,
Crs Xpecial, TL Xpecial
Social Media & Links

Alex "Xpecial" Chu (Hanzi: 朱啓恩) is a League of Legends esports player, previously head coach for Harrisburg University.

Team History

Combine Role Swaps:No|Yes
Dates:Approx|Exact
TeamStartEnd
NA
Haters Make Us Famous
??? 2010≈2010-??-??≈Dec 2010≈2010-12-??≈1mo
ejel
NA
Defy All Odds
≈Dec 2010≈2010-12-??≈Apr 2011≈2011-04-??≈4mo
ejel
NA
TSM
Apr 20112011-04-05[3]May 20142014-05-04[1]3yr 29d
ejel
NA
Chicks Dig Elo
Dec 20112011-12-08Dec 20112011-12-113d
ejel
NA
Team Curse
May 20142014-05-04[5]Jan 20152015-01-06[4]8mo 2d
ejel
NA
Team Liquid
Jan 20152015-01-06[7]Oct 20152015-10-29[6]9mo 23d
ejel
NA
Cloud9 Challenger
Nov 20152015-11-18Dec 20152015-12-0315d
ejel
NA
Apex Gaming
Jan 20162016-01-20[9]Sep 20162016-09-26[8]8mo 6d
ejel
NA
NRG Esports
Feb 20162016-02-15Mar 20162016-03-0822d
ejel
NA
Apex Pride
Jun 20162016-06-03Jul 20162016-07-061mo 3d
ejel
NA
Dignitas
Sep 20162016-09-26[10]Jun 20172017-06-158mo 19d
ejel
NA
Phoenix1
Jun 20172017-06-16[13]Nov 20172017-11-21[11]5mo 5d
ejel
NA
GG Academy
Jan 20182018-01-03[15]Apr 20182018-04-23[14]3mo 20d
ejel
NA
Golden Guardians

Apr 20182018-04-23[18]Aug 20182018-08-21[16]3mo 28d
ejel
NA
Harrisburg
Jan 20192019-01-24[20]Jul 20222022-07-13[19]3yr 5mo
ejel
TeamStartEnd
NA
Haters Make Us Famous
??? 2010≈2010-??-??≈Dec 2010≈2010-12-??≈1mo
ejel
NA
Defy All Odds
≈Dec 2010≈2010-12-??≈Apr 2011≈2011-04-??≈4mo
ejel
NA
TSM
Apr 20112011-04-05[3]Apr 20142014-04-27[21]3yr 22d
ejel
NA
Chicks Dig Elo
Dec 20112011-12-08Dec 20112011-12-113d
ejel
NA
TSM
Apr 20142014-04-27[21]May 20142014-05-04[1]7d
ejel
NA
Team Curse
May 20142014-05-04[5]Jan 20152015-01-06[4]8mo 2d
ejel
NA
Team Liquid
Jan 20152015-01-06[7]Oct 20152015-10-29[6]9mo 23d
ejel
NA
Cloud9 Challenger
Nov 20152015-11-18Dec 20152015-12-0315d
ejel
NA
Apex Gaming
Jan 20162016-01-20[9]Sep 20162016-09-26[8]8mo 6d
ejel
NA
NRG Esports
Feb 20162016-02-15Mar 20162016-03-0822d
ejel
NA
Apex Pride
Jun 20162016-06-03Jul 20162016-07-061mo 3d
ejel
NA
Dignitas
Sep 20162016-09-26[10]Jun 20172017-06-158mo 19d
ejel
NA
Phoenix1
Jun 20172017-06-16[13]Nov 20172017-11-21[11]5mo 5d
ejel
NA
GG Academy
Jan 20182018-01-03[15]Apr 20182018-04-23[14]3mo 20d
ejel
NA
Golden Guardians

Apr 20182018-04-23[18]Aug 20182018-08-21[16]3mo 28d
ejel
NA
Harrisburg
Jan 20192019-01-24[20]Jan 20202020-01-16[22]1yr 23d
ejel
NA
Harrisburg
Jan 20202020-01-16[22]Jul 20222022-07-13[19]2yr 5mo
ejel

News

  • 2010
  • 2011
  • 2014
  • 2015
  • 2016
  • 2017
  • 2018
  • 2019
  • 2020
  • 2022
  • 2024
NA
HATE2010 (approx.),
IWillDominate and
Xpecial join.
NA
HATEDecember (approx.),
TheOddOne joins.

IWillDominate and
Xpecial leave.
NA
DEFYDecember (approx.),
Xpecial joins.
NA
DEFYApril (approx.),
Xpecial leaves.
NA
TSMApril 5,
Xpecial joins.
[3]
NA
CDEDecember 8, Chicks Dig Elo is formed to compete in 2011 World Cyber Games.
Dyrus,
Saintvicious,
Reginald,
Chauster, and
Xpecial join.
NA
CDEDecember 11,
Dyrus,
Saintvicious,
Reginald,
Chauster, and
Xpecial leave.
NA
TSMApril 27,
Xpecial moves to substitute.[21]
NA
TSMMay 4,
Gleebglarbu joins.

Xpecial leaves.[1][2]
NA
CRSMay 4,
Xpecial joins.

Bunny FuFuu moves to substitute.[5]
NA
CRSJanuary 6, Team Curse transfers its roster and NA LCS spot to Team Liquid.
Quas,
IWillDominate,
FeniX,
Piglet,
Xpecial,
Keane,
zignature,
Bunny FuFuu, Peter (Head Coach), MarkZ (Head Analyst), jokasteve (General Manager),
Saintvicious (Coach), and LiQuiD112 (CEO) leave.[4]
NA
TLJanuary 6, Team Liquid acquires the roster and NA LCS spot of Team Curse.
Quas,
IWillDominate,
FeniX,
Piglet,
Xpecial, Peter (Head Coach), jokasteve (General Manager), LiQuiD112 (Owner), and MarkZ (Content Creator) join.
[7]
NA
TLSeptember 29,
Xpecial is set to leave.[23]
NA
TLOctober 29,
Xpecial leaves.[6]
NA
C9CNovember 18,
goldenglue and
Xpecial join.

mancloud and
Winter leave.
NA
C9CDecember 3,
ktsmurf and
Trance join.

Thinkcard will remain with the team.
Chau,
goldenglue, and
Xpecial leave.
NA
APXJanuary 20, Apex Gaming is formed.
Cris,
Eve,
Keane,
Police,
Xpecial, Saintvicious (Head Coach), and BlisS (Assistant Coach) join.

Shrimp joins as substitute.
[9]
NA
NRGFebruary 15,
Xpecial joins as substitute.

Shrimp leaves.
NA
NRGMarch 8,
Cris and
Xpecial leave.
NA
APPJune 3,
Cris,
Diamondprox,
Shiphtur,
Roar, and
KonKwon join.

Thal,
ShrimP,
Apollo, and
Xpecial join as substitutes.
NA
APPJuly 6,
Shernfire joins as substitute.

Ray,
ShrimP,
Keane, and
Xpecial leave.
NA
APXSeptember 26, Apex Gaming is acquired by the Philadelphia 76ers and merges with Dignitas under the Dignitas brand.
Ray,
ShrimP,
Keane,
Apollo,
Xpecial,
Cris,
Diamondprox,
Shiphtur,
Roar, Saintvicious (Head Coach), Cop (Coach), BlisS (Assistant Coach), and Crumbz (Assistant Coach) leave.[8]
NA
DIGSeptember 26, Dignitas is acquired by the Philadelphia 76ers and merges with Apex Gaming under the Dignitas brand.
Ray,
ShrimP,
Keane,
Xpecial, Cop (Coach), and Saintvicious (Coach) join.

Apollo rejoins.

Cris joins as substitute.
[10]
NA
DIGJune 15,
Altec and
Adrian join.

Xpecial leaves.
NA
P1June 16,
Xpecial joins.
[13]
NA
P1November 21,
Arrow and
Xpecial leave.[11][12]
NA
GG.AJanuary 3,
BobJenkins,
Potluck,
bobqin,
Jurassiq, and
Xpecial join.
[15]
NA
GG.AApril 23,
zig,
Benji, and
Sheep join.

Xpecial leaves for main roster.[14]
NA
GGApril 23,
Mickey joins.

Xpecial (Assistant Coach) joins as substitute.
[18]
NA
GGAugust 21, Real (Assistant Coach) and
Xpecial (Assistant Coach) leave.[16][17]
NA
HUJanuary 24, Xpecial (Coach) joins.[20]
NA
HUJanuary 16, Hopeful (Mid to Bot) and Xpecial (Coach to Head Coach) change positions.
Titus leaves.[22]
NA
HUJuly 13, Xpecial (Head Coach) leaves.[19]
AME
F/AOctober 31, Xpecial changes residency from
NA
North America
to
AME
Americas
.

Biography

Xpecial hails from Temple City, California in the USA. He began his pro gaming career in many different MMOs as well as being involved in the DOTA pro scene, as it died out he moved onto League of Legends. He became well-known in the League of Legends community as the support player for Team SoloMid, part of the original roster that moved into a gaming house in New York. Along with his teammates, he streamed regularly with commentary and created regular vlogs, earning him a large fan base.

In May 4, 2014, it was announced that Xpecial had been benched from TSM, and later that same day he was picked up by Team Curse.

On November 24, Xpecial appeared on the show Summoning Insight and discussed his time on TSM and Curse.[24]

2015 Season

Prior to the start of the spring LCS split, Team Curse merged with the Team Liquid organization and rebranded under the name Team Liquid. After a few swaps between Keith and Piglet as their AD carry, the team ended the season with a 9-9 record and qualified for playoffs with the sixth seed after defeating Team 8 in a tiebreaker game. In the playoffs, Liquid beat CLG 3-0 in the quarterfinals before falling to Cloud9 3-2 in the semifinals; in the third-place match, Liquid finally broke the "fourth-place curse" that stopped them from placing higher than fourth place in any event that had persisted since they were Team Curse and took down Team Impulse 3-2.

Team Liquid finished the summer split round robin in first place after winning a tiebreaker match over Counter Logic Gaming - the first team other than TSM or Cloud9 to place first in an NA LCS round robin. However, in the playoffs, they lost immediately in the semifinals to TSM, making them also the first team to finish first in an NA LCS round robin but not make the playoff finals. A CLG victory over TSM in the playoff finals sent Team Liquid to the regional finals instead of giving them a direct seed to Worlds via Championship Points, and in the gauntlet they lost to underdogs Cloud9, ending their post-season abruptly.

2016 Preseason

In September 2015, Xpecial released a vlog confirming that he would be leaving Team Liquid.[25] His replacement Smoothie was announced a few weeks later, and shortly after Xpecial became a free agent.[26] In his free agency announcement, he stated that he had played briefly with Cloud9's new Challenger team but that it hadn't worked out.[27] He later announced that he would not be playing on any LCS team for the next LCS split but that he still intended to continue competing.[28]

2016 Season

After his attempts to join an LCS team for the 2016 season were unsuccessful, Xpecial joined new NACS team Apex Gaming.[29]

Apex won both the regular season of NACS and the playoffs, using both Eve and Shrimp actively in the jungle. In the promotion tournament, they were seeded first against the ninth-place Team Impulse, to whom they lost, and then against second place Challenger team Team Dragon Knights, a rematch of the Challenger Series finals. This time, they didn't even drop one game against TDK and qualified successfully for the LCS summer split.

Apex started out the split strong, with a 2-0 first week including a 2-1 upset of reigning NA LCS champions and MSI alums CLG. Their success, however, was short-lived, and by week 5 they were in 7th place, where they remained for the rest of the season, out of reach of the playoffs but also safe from relegations for the 2017 Spring Season. In September, both Team Dignitas and Apex were acquired by the Philadelphia 76ers in September 2016, to play under the Dignitas name.[30]

2017 Season

Xpecial remained with the newly rebranded Dignitas for 2017. The team got off to a bad start in the spring split, going 2-6 over the first four weeks. Xpecial was also subbed out for substitute support Stunt for a few games, until Stunt went to Phoenix1 in March and Xpecial regained his starting spot. The team improved after Cop was rehired as head coach, going 7-3 over the rest of the season and securing the sixth and final playoff spot. However, they were swept 3-0 by Phoenix1 in the playoff quarterfinals.

Xpecial remained on Dignitas's roster for the summer split, but with the acquisition of Big, didn't appear in a game. Before the start of Week 3, he left Dignitas and joined the struggling Phoenix1, who had yet to win a game in the summer split. Xpecial started all of their remaining games and helped them break their loss streak in Week 4, but the team still struggled, finishing in last place with a 4-14 record. This forced them to play in the promotion tournament, where they outlasted challenger team Gold Coin United in the first round 3-2 but fell to Team Liquid 3-2 in round 2, before sweeping EUnited in the final qualification match to requalify for the LCS. Xpecial unexpectedly broke down in tears during a post-game interview with Ovilee May, distraught over his new team being split up.

2018 Season

Phoenix1 was not accepted into the newly franchised LCS for 2020, and Xpecial left the team in November. He eventually joined the newly formed Golden Guardians Academy for the spring academy split. However, the good moments were few on Xpecial's new team, as Golden Guardians Academy spent nearly all of the split in last place and finished with a 2-16 record. For the summer split, Xpecial joined the main roster as an assistant coach and coached the team on stage for Week 8 after the departure of Tyler. Despite his efforts, Golden Guardians finished tenth for the second straight split, and Xpecial left the team immediately after the season ended.

Trivia

  • He was originally the mid laner for Defy All Odds[31] before joining Team SoloMid as their replacement for FeedFest.
  • Was for a while the quietest member of Team SoloMid. TheOddOne and Chaox repeatedly referred to Xpecial as "Hamster."
  • Despite filling his team's role as Support, he is a very skilled Solo Queue AP player, and has even outlaned Reginald on several occasions.
  • Can box better than former AD carry Chaox. [32]
  • Played three toplane practice games against Dyrus at IGN Proleague Season 4 - Las Vegas and won all of them.
  • His parents own a vegetarian restaurant.
  • Speaks Cantonese, Mandarin, and English.
  • Played AP Tristana a lot while moving up through the solo queue ladder.
  • His rune pages on his North American account "Xpecial" are all named after Taylor Swift songs.
  • Was for a time considered the best Support in North America by then-Counter Logic Gaming's AD Carry Doublelift.
  • One of five players to have qualified for all of the first three World Championships, along with Dyrus, Reginald, TheOddOne and, YellOwStaR.
  • Was the first player in the LCS to reach 1000 career assists.
  • Reached 2000 Assists in the LCS on February 18, 2017

Tournament Results

This table shows up to the 10 most recent results. For complete results, click here.

Minimum place

Xpecial Tournament Results
DatePlEventLast ResultTeamRoster
2022-07-144 UPL 2022 Summer - Cloud
2 - 2RR
HU Lawrence1,  HyBriDZz,  ShorterACE,  Zile,  Savage1,  Hopefulx,  EvanRL,  Clyde,  Xpecial
2022-07-015 - 8 Gateway Legends Collegiate Invitational 2022
0 : 2MU
HU Lawrence,  Zile,  Savage,  Hopefulx,  Clyde,  Xpecial,  Tyler
2022-04-309 - 16 CLOL 2022 Championship
1 : 2MSU
HU Lxwrence,  Zile,  Emps,  Hopefulx,  Loop,  Xpecial
2022-04-079 - 12 UPL 2022 Spring Playoffs
0 : 2SN
HU Lxwrence,  ShorterACE,  Savage,  Hopefulx,  Maykel,  Loop,  Xpecial,  Tyler
2022-03-302 UPL 2022 Spring - Cloud
6 - 1RR
HU CloudNguyen,  Lxwrence,  Zile,  ShorterACE,  Emps,  Savage,  Hopefulx,  Maykel,  Loop,  Clyde,  Xpecial,  Tyler
2022-03-263 East Conference 2022 Playoffs
3 : 0UT
HU Lxwrence,  ShorterACE,  Zile,  Emps,  Savage,  Hopefulx,  Loop,  Xpecial,  Tyler
2022-02-26Q East Conference 2022
6 - 0RR
HU CloudNguyen,  Lxwrence,  Zile,  Emps,  Hopefulx,  Maykel,  Loop,  Xpecial,  Tyler
2021-11-275 - 8 Philly Esports Collegiate Tournament
0 : 2SLU
HU CloudNguyen,  ShorterACE,  Savage,  Maykel,  Loop,  Xpecial,  Tyler
2021-10-102 Sixty Six Games Expo 2021
1 : 3MU
HU Sandflame,  ShorterACE,  Emps,  Hopefulx,  Loop,  Xpecial,  Tyler
2021-09-197 - 8 HUE Invitational 2021
1 : 2MU
HU CloudNguyen,  Zile,  Emps,  Hopefulx,  Clyde,  Xpecial
Minimum place

Xpecial Showmatch Results
DatePlEventLast ResultTeamRoster
2020-07-102 LCS 2020 Summer Classic Showmatch
0 : 1C9
TSM Dyrus,  TheOddOne,  Voyboy,  WildTurtle,  Xpecial
2013-05-263 - 4 All-Star 2013 Shanghai
0 : 2KR Champions
NA LCS Dyrus,  Stvicious,  scarra,  Doublelift,  Xpecial,  LiQuiD112

Media

  • 2011
  • 2012
  • 2013
  • 2014
  • 2015
  • 2016
  • 2017
  • 2019

Post-Match Interviews

DateTournamentMatchLink
2017-08-13NA LCS 2018 Spring Promotion
P1
vs
EUN
Link
2014-08-03NA LCS 2014 Summer
CRS
vs
TSM
Link
2014-08-02NA LCS 2014 Summer
DIG
vs
CRS
Link
2014-07-06NA LCS 2014 Summer
CRS
vs
CLG
Link
2014-07-05NA LCS 2014 Summer
LMQ
vs
CRS
Link
2014-05-25NA LCS 2014 Summer
CRS
vs
DIG
Link
2014-04-05NA LCS 2014 Spring
TSM
vs
CST
Link
2014-03-23NA LCS 2014 Spring
TSM
vs
DIG
Link
2014-03-08NA LCS 2014 Spring
TSM
vs
CLG
Link
2014-02-08NA LCS 2014 Spring
EG
vs
TSM
Link
2014-01-26NA LCS 2014 Spring
CST
vs
TSM
Link
2014-01-18NA LCS 2014 Spring
DIG
vs
TSM
Link
2013-12-15Battle of the Atlantic 2013
TSM
vs
LD
Link
2013-08-30NA LCS 2013 Summer Playoffs
TSM
vs
CLG
Link
2013-08-01NA LCS 2013 Summer
TSM
vs
CRS
Link
2013-07-04NA LCS 2013 Summer
TSM
vs
CST
Link
2013-04-28NA LCS 2013 Spring Playoffs
TSM
vs
GGU
Link
2013-04-27NA LCS 2013 Spring Playoffs
TSM
vs
VUL
Link
2013-04-19NA LCS 2013 Spring
TSM
vs
GGU
Link
2013-04-18NA LCS 2013 Spring
COL
vs
TSM
Link
2013-04-13NA LCS 2013 Spring
CRS
vs
TSM
Link
2013-03-21NA LCS 2013 Spring
TSM
vs
COL
Link
2013-02-16NA LCS 2013 Spring
TSM
vs
MRN
Link
2011-06-20Worlds Season 1
aAa
vs
TSM
Link

Images

Redirects

The following pages redirect here:

No results found

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 “Gleebglarbu” New Support for TSM, Xpecial Joins Curse newsoflegends.com
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Xpecial Joins Team Curse teamcurse.net
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Xpecial's Gunnars Description gunnars.com
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 Breaking the Curse: Liquid Rising liquidlegends.net
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 Xpecial Joins Team Curse teamcurse.net
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 Xpecial - Free Agency, C9 Challenger, Future youtube.com
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 Breaking the Curse: Liquid Rising liquidlegends.net
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 Philadelphia 76ers acquire, merge and manage leading esports teams Dignitas and Apex team-dignitas.net
  9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 Saintvicious' TwitLonger twitlonger.com
  10. 10.0 10.1 10.2 Philadelphia 76ers acquire, merge and manage leading esports teams Dignitas and Apex team-dignitas.net
  11. 11.0 11.1 11.2 Arrow's Tweet twitter.com
  12. 12.0 12.1 12.2 Xpecial's Tweet twitter.com
  13. 13.0 13.1 13.2 Phoenix1's Facebook Post facebook.com
  14. 14.0 14.1 14.2 Golden Guardians Announce 2018 Summer Split Roster goldenguardians.com
  15. 15.0 15.1 15.2 Golden Guardians' Tweet twitter.com
  16. 16.0 16.1 16.2 Real's Tweet twitter.com
  17. 17.0 17.1 17.2 Xpecial's Tweet twitter.com
  18. 18.0 18.1 18.2 Golden Guardians Announce 2018 Summer Split Roster goldenguardians.com
  19. 19.0 19.1 19.2 HU Storm's Tweet twitter.com
  20. 20.0 20.1 20.2 HU Storm's Tweet twitter.com
  21. 21.0 21.1 21.2 Reginald's Facebook Post facebook.com
  22. 22.0 22.1 22.2 HU Storm's Tweet twitter.com
  23. TL Update - Xpecial On His Future youtube.com
  24. 'Summoning Insight' Episode 30, with special guest Xpecial youtube.com
  25. TL Update - Xpecial On His Future youtube.com
  26. Team Liquid Smoothie Challenge youtube.com
  27. Xpecial - Free Agency, C9 Challenger, Future youtube.com
  28. Xpecial - Not in LCS, Motivation, Future youtube.com
  29. Saintvicious's Twitlonger twitlonger.com
  30. Philadelphia 76ers acquire, merge and manage leading esports teams Dignitas and Apex team-dignitas.net
  31. Defy All Odds Team History nationalesl.com
  32. AD carry VS support round 2 "youtube.com"
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