In 2009, Defense of the Ancients team For The Dream started gaining mainstream recognition in China courtesy of its win at the SMM Grand National DotA Tournament 2009 in Malaysia. That attracted notable sponsors in hot sauce brand Lao Gan Die and IT company sGty, which saw For The Dream rebranded as LGD.sGty.
The team enjoyed great success over the coming months, establishing itself as the top team in the world and placing China as the best region for DotA. That dominance started to break down in the latter half of 2010, and in 2011 LGD saw most of its DotA roster signed away by Invictus Gaming. Along with this came financial troubles that nearly saw the team dissolved.
Former volunteer staffer Pan "RuRu" Jie took over the team’s operations, which led to new sponsorships, a rebranding to LGD-Gaming, and a relocation to Hangzhou, China.
Its new DotA roster, which included Zhang "xiao8" Ning, Yao "Yao" Zhengzheng, and Liu "Sylar" Jiajun, shifted its focus to Dota 2 in 2012 and received an invitation to The International. The team finished in third place and kicked off what would become a long run at the top.
LGD followed up its strong TI2 performance with first-place finishes in G-1 Champions League Season 4 and The Asia 2012. The team stayed strong into 2013 and qualified for TI3. Despite being a serious contender to win, LGD finished in a disappointing ninth place.
That didn’t spark a serious course correction by LGD. The team held onto most of its roster and quickly regained its competitive footing by posting strong placements in a number of tournaments in late 2013. A first-place finish at Dota 2 League Season 4 suggested that LGD-Gaming was once again atop the Dota 2 scene, but the team saw xiao8 suddenly split to form the inaugural Newbee roster.
LGD posted mixed results from there with a unique seven-man roster, but qualified for The International 2014. LGD posted a fifth-place finish at the event. This was followed by a major shift for LGD as it split with most of its roster again.
The team welcomed back Sylar and added Lei "MMY!" Zengrong from Team DK. The team struggled initially, but returned to form by the end of 2014. A disappointing finish in the 2015 Dota Asia Championship saw the team drop new captain Zeng "Faith" Hongda. This was followed by the return of xiao8 and the addition of Lu "Maybe" Yao.
The team went on a significant upswing from there, improving throughout the summer. LGD-Gaming received a direct invitation to The International 2015 as a result, and there they finished in third place once again.
The roster stayed largely intact after TI with the exception of Yao being benched after almost five years on LGD’s starting roster. Following TI5, Valve started hosting designated majors, which would become a steady source of frustration for LGD.
The team posted middling performances in the Frankfurt Major and Shanghai Major which led to Sylar being released from the team and Yao completing his split from LGD. Though things improved at the Manila Major as the team finished fourth, a poor outing at The International 2016 saw another shakeup within LGD.
LGD’s roster was split into two teams in the forms of LGD Gaming and LGD.Forever Young, with the latter squad being led by xiao8. Both posted mixed results throughout the season but surged in the summer in order to qualify for The International 2017. LGD Gaming finished in fourth place while LFY finished in third, with both being eliminated by eventual winner Team Liquid.
LGD Gaming was in peak form in the inaugural Dota Pro Circuit season. After a slow start, LGD Gaming won Epicenter XL and the MDL Changsha Major to earn a direct invitation to The International 2018 through the new DPC format. Along the way, football club Paris Saint-Germain became the primary sponsor of LGD. This saw the team rebranded as PSG.LGD. The team entered as one of the favorites to win TI8, but fell just shy as it lost to OG in the grand finals.
LFY struggled throughout the 2017-2018 Dota Pro Circuit season, failed to qualify for TI8, and was later dissolved.
PSG.LGD was solid in the 2018-2019 DPC season, placing in the top six of each major tournament. That earned the team another invitation to The International, and they entered TI9 in Shanghai as the hometown favorite. The team finished in third place yet again.
The 2019-2020 Dota Pro Circuit season marked a sharp decline for PSG.LGD. The team sat out the first major cycle of the season, which was followed by the team failing to clear open qualifiers for the second and third majors. This struggle resulted in its longtime roster changing for the first time in two years.
