|
Clearlove | ||
---|---|---|
Background Information | ||
Name | Ming Kai (明凯) | |
Country of Birth | China | |
Birthday | July 25, 1993 (age 31) | |
Residency | China | |
Competitive | ||
Team | EDward Gaming | |
Role | Coach | |
Favorite Champs | ||
Competitive IDs | Troll, Mann, Clearlove7 | |
Soloqueue IDs | CN: EDG丶Clearlove KR: su zhi#mingk | |
Social Media & Links | ||
Ming "Clearlove" (▶️ listen) Kai (Hanzi: 明凯) is a League of Legends esports player, currently head coach for EDward Gaming. He was previously known as Troll, Mann, and Clearlove7.
Team History
Team | Start | End | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Team Phoenix | Jun 20122012-06-01[2] | Aug 20122012-08-25[1] | 2mo 24d ejel | ||
Team WE | Aug 20122012-08-25[5] | Feb 20142014-02-12[4] | 1yr 5mo ejel | ||
EDward Gaming | Feb 20142014-02-12[7] | Dec 20192019-12-16[6] | 5yr 10mo ejel | ||
EDward Gaming | Dec 20192019-12-16[6] | Dec 20202020-12-14[8] | 1yr 29d ejel | ||
EDward Gaming | Dec 20202020-12-14[8] | Jan 20222022-01-07[9] | 1yr 24d ejel | ||
EDward Gaming | Jan 20222022-01-07[9] | Jun 20222022-06-01[11] | 4mo 25d ejel | ||
EDward Gaming | Dec 20232023-12-20[12] | Present | 10mo 22d ej |
Team | Start | End | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Team Phoenix | Jun 20122012-06-01[2] | Aug 20122012-08-25[1] | 2mo 24d ejel | ||
Team WE | Aug 20122012-08-25[5] | Dec 20132013-12-16[13] | 1yr 3mo ejel | ||
Team WE | Dec 20132013-12-16[13] | Feb 20142014-02-12[4] | 1mo 27d ejel | ||
EDward Gaming | Feb 20142014-02-12[7] | Dec 20192019-12-16[6] | 5yr 10mo ejel | ||
EDward Gaming | Dec 20192019-12-16[6] | Dec 20202020-12-14[8] | 1yr 29d ejel | ||
EDward Gaming | Dec 20202020-12-14[8] | Jan 20222022-01-07[9] | 1yr 24d ejel | ||
EDward Gaming | Jan 20222022-01-07[9] | Jun 20222022-06-01[11] | 4mo 25d ejel | ||
EDward Gaming | Dec 20232023-12-20[12] | Present | 10mo 22d ej |
News
- 2012
- 2013
- 2014
- 2018
- 2019
- 2020
- 2021
- 2022
- 2023
PHX | June 1, Santa, InrA, ClearLove, TXBB, Fzzf, Pomelo, and LoveTT (Manager) join.[2][3] | |
PHX | August 25, ClearLove leaves.[1] | |
WE | August 25, ClearLove joins. YJTM leaves.[5] ClearLove renames to Mann. |
WE | February 12, Clearlove and Fzzf leave.[4] | |
EDG | February 12, Koro1, ClearLove, and Fzzf join. Fireloli, At, and Cttflame join as substitutes.[7] |
EDG | June 27, Clearlove's contract is updated in the GCD, expiring on 20 November 2018.[14] | |
EDG | November 20, Clearlove's contract expires but departure is not confirmed.[15] | |
EDG | December 17, Clearlove and Scout's contracts are extended.[16] | |
EDG | December 22, Clearlove's contract expires but departure is not confirmed.[17] |
EDG | January 15, Clearlove's contract is updated in the GCD, expiring on 19 November 2019. Mole's contract is updated in the GCD, expiring on 16 November 2021.[18] | |
EDG | December 16, Clearlove (Jungle to Head Coach) changes position.[6] |
EDG | February (approx.), Due to Coronavirus quarantine, Clearlove, JieJie and Xinyi become inactive. | |
EDG | April 10, Clearlove come out of Coronavirus quarantine and move back to the active position. | |
EDG | December 14, Clearlove (Head Coach to Sub/Jungle) changes position.[8] |
EDG | June 22, Flandre, Scout, and Meiko's contracts are updated in the GCD, expiring on 22 November 2022. JieJie and Xiaoxiang's contracts are updated in the GCD, expiring on 21 November 2023. Viper, Clearlove, and JunJia's contracts are updated in the GCD, expiring on 16 November 2021.[19] |
EDG | January 7, Zero (Analyst) joins. Clearlove (Sub/Jungle to Supervisor) changes position.[9][10] | |
EDG | June 1, Mni (Coach) joins. Ziv (Coach) joins from academy roster. Hua (Analyst) and Clearlove (Supervisor) leave.[11] |
EDG | December 20, Derek (Leader) and Fang (Supervisor) join. Clearlove (Head Coach) rejoins. Solokill and Vampire join from academy roster. Leave rejoins from academy roster. Monki's contract is extended. Ale, JieJie, Fisher, Mni (Coach), and Jasper (Deputy Manager) will remain with the team for 2024. KenZhu (Coach) and Gazero (Supervisor) leave.[12] |
Biography[]
Ming "Clearlove" Kai (also stylized ClearLove) began playing League of Legends in 2011. He currently resides in Shanghai.
Season 2[]
Clearlove was a famous player for 信长野望 (a popular mod for WAR3). He formed this team along with several other players of an old Chinese MOBA game called Xin Zhang De Ye Wang. Clearlove and Pomelo used to argue over who would play mid lane and who would jungle. The team would eventually disband.
Members of Clearlove's first team joined a team managed by LoveTT called Team Phoenix on June 1, 2012. These members included Clearlove, Pomelo, Cool, and Fzzf. Despite having so many power names on the lineup, Team Phoenix achieved very little. Clearlove left the team in August, and Fzzf followed shortly after.
On August 25 of 2012, Clearlove joined Team WE, then called World Elite, as the jungler. Clearlove was a second choice for a jungler after Lucky, but he joined the team on recommendation from analyst, Aaron, when Lucky did not take the offer. Clearlove recommended Fzzf for the support position in September after if suddenly left. The previous roster qualified for the Season 2 World Championship. WE went to event in October, just a month after Fzzf completed the lineup.
In the World Championship, Team WE didn't play group stage as the first seed from China. In the quarterfinals against CLG EU, several delays and connection issues caused the match to span 11 hours. WE would ultimately lose 1-2, in part because their Blitzcrank strategy was banned against them. Clearlove played Maokai and Nocturne in these games.
Following the World Championship, Team WE experienced a period of nearly unmatched success. They placed first in an online tournament called Enter the Dragon against other Korean and Chinese teams. They then won the online qualifier for the IGN ProLeague Season 5 and would attend the event in Las Vegas. Team WE advanced through Group Stage through Upper Bracket Finals without losing a game until they faced Fnatic. They still beat Fnatic twice and took the tournament title. Given the rigorous format of the tournament, no one doubted they were the best team in the world.
Season 3[]
After winning IPL 5, Team WE returned to China for a period of domestic dominance. They didn't drop a single best-of series for a six month period. They would eventually lose to Invictus Gaming in the GIGABYTE StarsWar League Season 2 in the Grand Finals after beating them 3-1 in the upper bracket.
During WE's period of dominance, they were noted for Misaya's high map pressure picks like Twisted Fate. Clearlove generally played heavy farming jungle picks for team fighting while the rest of his team extended laning phases. This style would be tested in 2013 LPL Spring. Oh My God eliminated them in the first Playoffs semifinals.
During 2013 LPL Summer, WE continued to struggle. Junglers like OMG's LoveLing and Positive Energy's Jing controlled early games, making WE's style harder to sustain. Clearlove started to play more surprising picks like Zed, Hecarim, and Nunu, manipulating high scaling to varying degrees of success.
Rumors of WE's internal struggles started to emerge. After failing to qualify for the Season 3 World Championship, WE's momentum seemed to flag. They lost to OMG again at the 2013 World Cyber Games semifinals. This would be the last event attended by WE's legendary lineup.
After WCG, Team WE pulled out from their remaining competitive events for 2013, including the Summer Playoffs. Eventually, Misaya retired, and both Clearlove and Fzzf left the team. On WE, Clearlove achieved 11 tournament victories.
2014 Season[]
Aaron, Clearlove, and Fzzf joined EDward Gaming at the end of 2013. The owners of the club felt Clearlove would be the sine qua non of the team's success, and acquiring him was a first priority.[20]
Clearlove recommended top laner Koro1, who joined the squad along with U and NaMei. During the 2014 season, Clearlove served as EDG's secondary shot-caller, supplementing Fzzf. Clearlove continued to play a more heavy farm style in the team, and EDG, like WE, stalled out most of their games. During this period, he played mostly assassin junglers like Evelynn and Kha'Zix.
Early in Edward Gaming's formation, Clearlove and Fzzf received a lot of personal attacks from fans for leaving WE and splitting the team. Clearlove would often stream playing only music and not speaking under direction from the club. The motto of the team became "fight back with results."[21]
Edward Gaming placed second in the regular season of 2014 LPL Spring, losing to OMG in every match. After OMG qualified for the All-Star Paris 2014 tournament, Edward Gaming exposed their flaws at International Esports Tournament 2014. Clearlove was a big part of the strategy that won the team their first title. He chose to camp the mid lane and set rookie Xiyang on the back-foot. EDG 2-0'd OMG to take the title.
EDG then placed first in the LPL Playoffs. Clearlove played a faster paced jungle style with more aggressive Lee Sin picks, resulting in shorter games against Invictus Gaming in the finals.
In 2014 LPL Summer, Clearlove reverted to his lower pressure style, but favored more Jarvan IV picks. Despite varying results, Edward Gaming managed to place first in the regular season, 2-0ing Team WE in their final match. EDG then ran through the playoffs, only losing a single game to OMG. Clearlove again played more aggressively. EDG then secured first seed for the 2014 World Championship by beating Star Horn Royal Club in the 2014 Season China Regional Finals.
Clearlove was a focal point of Edward Gaming's poor performance at the World Championship. He claimed he was very nervous during the Samsung White matches in Group Stage and only managed to collect himself with help from Fzzf.[22] He received heavy ridicule for his performance on Sightstone Jarvan IV in the first match. Clips of Clearlove's play from the match were passed around Chinese forums and mocked.
In the quarterfinals against Star Horn Royal Club, Clearlove improved his play in Game 3 after losing the first two matches. He picked Evelynn, which he considered his best champion at the time, and played much more aggressively, snowballing Koro1's Ryze ahead. This strategy worked for two games before EDG lost to Star Horn in Game 5. Clearlove said on his weibo that he didn't feel shame; "The end is also a new beginning."[23]
2015 Preseason[]
Upon returning to China, Edward Gaming continued to place well in domestic events. They only lost two domestic tournaments during the entirety of 2014: IEM Season IX - Shenzhen to Team WE and NEST 2014 to Team King.
After Fzzf chose to retire, Koro1 was named captain of EDG, but Clearlove took over Fzzf's duties as primary shotcaller. With the addition of pawN and Deft, EDG claimed their most dominant offseason win against King by 3-0ing them in the G-League 2014 final.
2015 Season[]
At the start of the season, Coach Aaron said that how well Edward Gaming would do in 2015 depended on how much Clearlove could grow both as a jungler and as a shotcaller.[24]
During the 2015 regular season, Clearlove's style underwent massive changes. When the team dropped 2-0 to Snake Esports, Clearlove's approach seemingly changed over night. He starting picking Lee Sin more and more, and EDG's game pace increased. EDG became known for Clearlove camping Deft's lane to get the AD carry ahead.
When Patch 5.6 rolled out in LPL, Clearlove's approach reverted slightly. His past preference for high farm tank junglers took hold, and EDG once again became a team fighting team. In part due to problems with pawN's health, EDG didn't perform as well in Playoffs as expected. Ultimately, Clearlove's team fighting on Sejuani would be a huge part of their victory over LGD Gaming in the LPL finals.
Upon winning LPL, Clearlove secured his 11th title with Edward Gaming, matching the number of tournament wins he earned on WE. He and Edward Gaming qualified to represent China at the Mid-Season Invitational in Tallahassee, Florida.
At MSI, EDG pushed their way to the finals and upset the heavily favored SK Telecom T1 by baiting Faker into picking LeBlanc and picking a comp to counter it. EDG won the series 3-2 and took home the title of best team in the World. EDG participated in the 2015 Demacia Cup Summer Season where they won again by taking a 3-0 set against OMG. They ended in first place once again in the 2015 LPL Summer Regular Season but in the 2015 LPL Summer Playoffs they faltered, dropping a 3-0 set to LGD and a 3-1 set to IG to end in fourth place overall. They still qualified for the 2015 Season China Regional Finals and managed to take the second seed from China to the 2015 Season World Championship with a 3-1 victory over IG. EDG were placed in a group with SK Telecom, H2k Gaming, and the Bangkok Titans. They came out of the group in second place and were drawn to play Fnatic in the quarterfinals but lost to them 3-0.
2016 Season[]
In Summer of 2016, EDG was placed in Group A of the 2016 LPL Summer Split. This split was the start to EDG's resurgence as the team finished with an undefeated 16-0 regular season record. In the 2016 LPL Summer Playoffs EDG defeated Team WE 3-2 in the semifinals which set them up for a rematch against Royal Never Give Up. In clean fashion, EDG defeated RNG in a 3-0 sweep and reclaimed the LPL championship. This also qualified them for the 2016 Season World Championship as China's #1 seed.
At Worlds, EDG was drawn in Group C along with H2k-Gaming, ahq e-Sports Club and INTZ e-Sports. Despite being a favorite in the group, they dropped a game to H2K and INTZ which forced a tiebreaker between them an H2K for 1st and 2nd place. After they lost the tiebreaker and ended 2nd, they were drawn against the tournament favorites ROX Tigers in the Quarterfinals. Clearlove's performance at the event was heavily criticized and he was picked as one of the biggest underperformers in the tournament. EDG's Worlds run ended after the team lost 1-3 to the ROX Tigers in the quarterfinals. Clearlove also attended the 2016 All-Star Event along with his teammate Mouse, winning the whole thing as a member of Team Ice.
2017 Season[]
In the spring of 2017 Clearlove stepped down as EDG's main jungler in order to take a break and focus on fixing his play. He was replaced by Iceloli. EDG failed to defend their LPL title in the 2017 LPL Spring Season and lost 1-3 to RNG in the 2017 Spring Playoffs semifinals. They placed 3rd after taking down OMG 3-2 in the third place match. Summer was much better for EDG. Clearlove returned to being the team's main jungler and by the end of the split he stopped sharing play time with Iceloli anymore. In the end EDG reclaimed their throne as LPL champions after taking down RNG 3-2 in the finals of the playoffs.
EDG's 2017 Season World Championship participation wasn't so stellar and ultimately EDG was knocked out of Worlds in the group stage. They finished tied for 3rd place with ahq e-Sports Club.
Trivia[]
- Known for his Evelynn, Nunu, and Lee Sin.
- His Lee Sin was known infamously, for dealing only 4396 damage throughout Game 4 of 2016 Season World Championship quarterfinals (ROX Tigers vs. Edward Gaming)
- He was rank #1 on the Chinese server during Season 1.
- He has been Challenger on both the Chinese and Korean servers.
- Known for both "darkness" and "light" personas as a result of his inconsistently aggressive play in the jungle.
- Has been called "Director" as a compliment for strong jungle play.
- Known for always taking raptors in his jungling path; he seldom allows mid laners to take his raptors.
- During the period when he couldn't talk on stream, Clearlove would play love songs or "Ode to Joy" when asked to play a happy song, giving him the nicknames "Love Song Prince" and "Esports Beethoven".
- His surname Ming(明) is very rare in China, it only takes around 0.01% of the China's population.
- During the 2017 Season, he changed his ID to Clearlove7 to commemorate his seven seasons of competitive play.
- He owns the No. 0001 LPL Pro Athelete Certificate (Hanzi: LPL职业选手证书) because he had the longest professional career while LPL started to give its players certificates to play in before the start of 2018 Season.
- Known for his high KDA, he holds highest KDA among all jungle players in all LPL season that he has attended more than 20 games.
- Held the record for most kills by a jungler in an LPL game at 15. This was on Sejuani, against Vici Gaming, in LPL 2015 Spring.
- This record got surpassed by Bo in LPL 2021 Spring.
- Reached 1000 Kills in the LPL in July, 2016.
- Reached 3000 assists in the LPL on March 18th, 2017.
- Was the 1st player to reach 3000 assists in the LPL and within a single region worldwide.
- Reached 300 wins in the LPL on March 20th, 2019.
- Was the 1st player to reach 300 wins in the LPL.
Pentakills
Date | Region | Tournament | Team | Vs | Champion | Pos | W/L | KDA | SB | VOD |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2016-07-03 | China | Demacia Cup 2016 | Graves | Jun | W | 8/0/3 | Link | Link |
- Click here for a full list of pentakills by all players.
Tournament Results[]
This table shows up to the 10 most recent results. For complete results, click here.
Clearlove 1v1 Tournament Results | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Date | Pl | Event | Prize | Team | Last Result |
2016-12-11 | 9 - 16 | All-Star 2016 Barcelona | Ice | 0 : 1 Impact | |
2015-12-13 | 5 - 8 | All-Star 2015 Los Angeles | Ice | 0 : 1 Bjergsen |
Media[]
- 2012
- 2014
- 2015
- 2016
- 2017
- 2018
- September 25, World Elite Preview: Season Two World Finals [Archived] by ZeroCardinality on ggChronicle
- December 2, IPL5 LOL Winner Team WE with megumixbear on YouTube
- September 20, ClearLove Interview (Video) with , and on onGamers
- January 28, League of Legends: Fighting! - Iron Chef - LGD Imp vs. EDG Clearlove by Rach Subs on YouTube
- May 8, EDG Clearlove has "a lot of confidence of winning" MSI - day one interview with , and on GameSpot
- May 8, ClearLove: 'If we can fix our jet lag, then I don’t think EDG will have a problem' with , and on the Daily Dot
- May 10, Clearlove on SKTelecom T1: I'm a better jungler than bengi with , and on LoL Esports
- May 11, It had to be Clearlove: how Evelynn helped EDG win MSI by , and on The Score
- October 1, Post game interview with Clearlove // "I have confidence we can beat SKT." by , and on Gold Per 10
- October 9, Worlds Feature: EDG Clearlove by , and on LoL Esports
- October 9, Edward Gaming unsatisfied with 2nd place in Group C with , and on LoL Esports
- October 9, ClearLove Interview with , and on Twitch
- October 11, 15W Interview // Clearlove: If we can make the finals, we can beat SKT. by , and on Gold Per 10
- October 17, Clearlove: '...sometimes we make mistakes in game because we don't have enough communication' with , and on The Score
- December 6, All Star Interview (Clearlove) by , and on rachelyounggu.tumblr.com
- January 25, LPL Brief: Clearlove and Fireloli by , and on the Chinese LoL Broadcasting Channel
- May 21, Clearlove: 'As my form becomes better, our team will perform better in the next season.' with Kelsey Moser on The Score
- July 27, Clearlove retcons: A few unwarranted changes to the clearlove mythos by Kelsey Moser on LPL Broadcasting
- August 11, The world's top 10 players in League of Legends by Tyler Erzberger on ESPN
- August 17, LPL Playoffs: The new patch, communication and close series with , and on The Score
- September 7, Legends Rising Season 2: Episode 1 - Spring by , and on LoL Esports
- September 10, Legends Rising Season 2: Episode 2 - All In by , and on LoL Esports
- September 14, Legends Rising Season 2: Episode 3 - Revolver by , and on LoL Esports
- September 17, Legends Rising Season 2: Episode 4 - Endurance by , and on LoL Esports
- September 21, Legends Rising Season 2: Episode 5 - Contender by , and on LoL Esports
- September 24, Legends Rising Season 2: Episode 6 - Fighting by , and on LoL Esports
- October 5, Clearlove on the Wild Cards: 'In terms of strategies and team comps, they’re at the same level as everyone else here' with , and on Yahoo!
- October 16, Overrated: A rational discussion of Clearlove's flaws by Kelsey Moser on The Score
- December 20, Clearlove: ‘Korean players left, but this gives new players a chance to rise and fill their spots’ with , and on Yahoo Esports
- October 15, Worlds’ OP five after week two by Thomas Baker on Worlds 2017
- September 28, The 6 players with the most on the line at Worlds by Xing Li on Dot Esports
- October 12, EDG Clearlove: "I think TL plays very well during the early game. However, when it goes to the mid to late game, it seems that TL has some issues regarding teamfighting and macro." with Joonkyu "Lasso" Seok and James "Bick" Hong on Inven Global
Post-Match Interviews
Date | Tournament | Match | Link |
---|---|---|---|
2018-10-02 | Worlds 2018 Play-In | EDG vs INF | Link |
Images[]
Name Pronunciation
Clearlove | |
---|---|
Accuracy | LPL Production |
Voiced By | Candice |
Redirects
The following pages redirect here:
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 传闻成真:Clearlove加盟WE 分队建立中 (Chinese) wangyou.pcgames.com
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 快讯 LoveTt领衔Dream原班人马打造新军Phoenix (Chinese) tatazu.com
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 PHX战队宣布成立 (Chinese) lol.replays.net
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Edward Gaming's Tencent Weibo Post (Chinese) t.qq.com
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 传闻成真:Clearlove加盟WE 分队建立中 (Chinese) wangyou.pcgames.com
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 EDward Gaming's Weibo Post (Chinese) weibo.com
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Edward Gaming's Tencent Weibo Post (Chinese) t.qq.com
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 EDward Gaming's Weibo Post (Chinese) weibo.com
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 EDward Gaming's Weibo Post (Chinese) weibo.com
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 EDward Gaming's Tweet twitter.com
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 EDward Gaming's Weibo Post (Chinese) weibo.com
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 EDward Gaming's Weibo Post (Chinese) weibo.com
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Team WE电子竞技俱乐部LOL分部人员调整公告 (Chinese) tatazu.com
- ↑ Archive Pages: before change - CN - 2018-06-26; after change - CN - 2018-06-27
- ↑ Archive Pages: before change - CN - 2018-11-20; after change - CN - 2018-11-20
- ↑ EDward Gaming's Weibo Post (Chinese) weibo.com
- ↑ Archive Pages: before change - CN - 2018-12-22; after change - CN - 2018-12-22
- ↑ Archive Pages: before change - CN - 2019-01-10; after change - KR - 2019-01-15
- ↑ Archive Pages: before change - CN - 2021-06-21; after change - CN - 2021-06-22
- ↑ Greatness: The Story behind the formation of Edward Gaming onGamers
- ↑ Greatness: The Story behind the formation of Edward Gaming onGamers
- ↑ Gaming World Championship Documentary YouTube
- ↑ Gaming World Championship Documentary YouTube
- ↑ Aaron assesses LPL teams after Week 1 YouTube