Xtreme Gaming have released four of the five players who represented them at The International 2026. In an announcement posted to the organisation's official Weibo account on 4 September, XG confirmed that midlaner NothingToSay, offlaner Xxs, position four fy and position five xNova are leaving, along with head coach LaNm. Carry Ame is the only player left on the active roster.
It is the sharpest teardown yet in a Chinese post-TI reset that has already emptied two other established organisations, a year after this same club played a TI grand final.
What the announcement covers
The departures are dated 4 September and came from the club itself rather than a leak, making this one of the few primary-sourced moves in a shuffle that has otherwise run on insider posts. Liquipedia's transfer portal logged the same five names the same day.
The four players fall into two groups. Xxs was the longest-serving, joining on 27 December 2023 and staying two years and eight months across three Internationals. NothingToSay, fy and xNova all arrived together on 1 October 2025, in the rebuild that followed TI 2025 — meaning that lineup was given a single competitive season before being dismantled.
LaNm's exit is the most abrupt. He was appointed head coach only on 30 July 2026, arriving with assistant coach Maps as xiao8 left — roughly five weeks in the job, two of them consumed by the tournament that decided his fate. He never gave up his other role to take the XG job: Liquipedia had him as Cloud Rising's general manager throughout, and that is where he stays. No departure is recorded for Maps, whose status is unclear.
Ame — Wang Chunyu, position one, at the club since 4 March 2025 — is now the roster. The announcement does not say whether XG intend to build around him, and no signings have been announced.
Why it happened: a group-stage exit as defending finalists
Xtreme Gaming came into the tournament as a direct invitee and as the club that reached the grand final of The International 2025, where they lost 2-3 to Team Falcons. At TI 2026 in Shanghai they did not reach the playoffs at all. The event ran from 13 to 23 August, with the playoffs held at the Oriental Sports Center. Sixteen teams played a modified Swiss group stage — top three straight through, fourth to thirteenth into an elimination round — before the double-elimination bracket. XG did not survive the Swiss, finishing 14th–15th alongside OG. Only HULIGANI finished below them.
For a lineup built to go one better than a grand final, going out before the bracket started, at the first TI held in China since 2019, is not a result organisations absorb quietly. Team Spirit went on to win the event, beating TEAM VISION in a full five-game grand final for a third Aegis of Champions.
China's rebuild is now the story of the shuffle
XG are not an isolated case, and that is what makes this significant.
LGD Gaming's entire Dota 2 roster and coaching staff departed on 24 August, leaving the organisation with no active lineup — though that was a South American squad under a Chinese banner rather than a Chinese one. Vici Gaming disbanded on 16 August, after their own TI 2026 exit. With Xtreme Gaming now down to a single player, three of the region's most recognisable organisations are simultaneously without a functioning team. XG went into TI as the region's flag-bearer.
The consequences reach beyond China. As we covered when 1win Essence III was postponed and PGL Wallachia Season 9 came up short of teams, organisers are reportedly struggling to fill invitational fields with so many tier-one rosters in flux. PGL Wallachia Season 9 runs 17–27 September; BLAST SLAM VIII closed its qualifiers on 29–30 August and starts 29 September, with LAN finals in Malta on 8–11 October.
The movement in the other direction is coming from newer entrants: Xipto Esports entered Dota 2 on 31 August with a pan-SEA roster of 23savage, inYourdreaM, Fbz, Q and Oli — a debut landing in the same fortnight that LGD, Vici and XG took their teams apart.
What to watch next
Four experienced Chinese and Malaysian players are now free agents at once, in a market where several of the region's biggest orgs need entire rosters. NothingToSay in particular is a TI grand finalist — runner-up with PSG.LGD at The International 2021 — and will not be short of offers. Where those four land will shape the Chinese region for the 2026-27 season, and the natural destinations are the clubs that currently have vacancies.
This one was a club announcement; most of what is circulating about the rest of the shuffle is not. Treat it accordingly until the orgs post something themselves.
FAQ
Who left Xtreme Gaming? NothingToSay, Xxs, fy and xNova, plus head coach LaNm. All five departures were dated 4 September 2026 and announced on Xtreme Gaming's official Weibo account.
Who is still on the Xtreme Gaming roster? Ame is the only player currently listed on the active roster. He has been with the organisation since 4 March 2025.
Has Xtreme Gaming disbanded their Dota 2 team? No. It released four players and its head coach but has not announced a withdrawal from Dota 2, and Ame remains under the banner. No replacements have been announced.
Where did LaNm go? Nowhere new — Liquipedia had him as Cloud Rising's general manager throughout his XG spell, so he simply continues there. He had held the XG head-coach job only since 30 July 2026.
How did Xtreme Gaming do at The International 2026? They were eliminated in the Swiss group stage and did not reach the playoffs, finishing 14th–15th. They had been runners-up at The International 2025.
Sources: Xtreme Gaming's official Weibo announcements of 4 September 2026 and 30 July 2026; Liquipedia's Dota 2 transfer portal, Xtreme Gaming team page and The International 2026 pages. Retrieved 5 September 2026.
