CTBC Flying Oyster signs LPL champion Shad0w for 2026 season

CTBC Flying Oyster (CFO) has officially announced the signing of Zhao ‘Shad0w‘ Zhiqiang as its jungler for the 2026 LCP season.

With expectations high after last year’s breakthrough performance, CTBC Flying Oyster is having to rebuild its roster, and the former BiliBili Gaming jungler was selected to be part of that process.

Shad0w is one of the few players to have won championships in two regions, the LEC and the LPL. The Italian jungler began his career in Europe with MAD Lions (now KOI) before spending five years competing in China. During that time, he moved between multiple teams, earning a reputation for intelligent pathing, strong early-game control, and adaptability against elite opposition.

In 2025, as part of a six-man roster, Shad0w won LPL 2025 Split 3, becoming the first European to do so.

At the same time, 2025 saw CTBC Flying Oyster record a historic run by nearly every metric. It was the only team to participate in every League of Legends international tournament throughout the year, showing unmatched consistency and growth across formats.

The players’ performances also brought unprecedented international attention to the LCP and earned the team a rapidly growing global fanbase. While at Worlds 2025, Swiss stage victories over T1, Fnatic and FlyQuest firmly established CFO as a team no opponent could afford to underestimate.

But it was the team’s qualification for the Worlds 2025 Playoffs that etched the organisation’s name into LoL Esports’ history, becoming the first team from the Pacific region to break into the knockout stage in over a decade. That very success, however, came at a cost.

During Worlds 2025, standout performances from mid laner Tsai ‘HongQ‘ Ming-Hong and veteran bot laner Chiu ‘Doggo‘ Tzu-Chuan had pushed CFO toward a miracle run. However, this inevitably attracted attention from abroad, and the roster began to unravel in the aftermath of Worlds.

HongQ, joined by jungler Yu ‘JunJia‘ Chun-Chia, departed for JD Gaming, while top laner Shen ‘Driver’ Tsung-Hua has moved on after serving as CFO’s primary top laner throughout 2025. Support Ling ‘Kaiwing’ Kai Wing also left the organisation, bringing an end to one of the most impactful line-ups in the team’s history. 

In total, four members of CFO’s 2025 roster departed following Worlds, each in search of new challenges and competitive peaks in other regions.

While replicating last year’s results will be a daunting task, the organisation’s willingness to bet on proven international experience suggests its sights remain firmly set on competing with the world’s best.