"They Banned Faceless Void Instead of Lone Druid", — streamer on the reason behind xiao8's departure from Xtreme Gaming

Following the departure of Zhang xiao8 Ning as Xtreme Gaming's head coach, various theories about the decision have begun circulating within the community, as the organization did not disclose the reason for parting ways with its coach.

One of those theories was shared by former professional player and streamer Janne Gorgc Stefanovski during his Twitch stream. In his opinion, one of the main reasons may have been the team's poor drafting, which was handled by xiao8.

As an example, Gorgc recalled Xtreme Gaming's match against Nigma Galaxy at DreamLeague Season 29, where the Chinese team chose not to ban Lone Druid in Game 1 despite the opponent's strong performances on the hero. Instead, they banned Faceless Void, which the streamer believes was a major drafting mistake.

They could have banned Lone Druid, but instead they banned Faceless Void. That's why he got kicked. After that tournament, we never saw xiao8 again.

Stefanovski also claimed that during the match, carry Wang Ame Chunyu became so frustrated that after dying to Lone Druid once again, he typed "GG", even though the opposing team was leading by only 7,000 gold.

At DreamLeague S29, Xtreme Gaming finished in 8th place, before also struggling at BLAST Slam VII and Esports World Cup 2026, failing to reach the playoffs at either event.

The team's next tournament will be The International 2026, which will take place from 13.08.2026 to 23.08.2026 in Shanghai, China. The event will feature 16 teams, while the prize pool has already surpassed $2,500,000.

Xiao8 will work as a talent on the Chinese-language broadcast during TI15.

Earlier, Cyberscore presented the top favorites for The International 2026, as selected by analysts.