Vici Gaming (VG) was a professional gaming team from China based in Shanghai. The team had players who competed in several video games, including Dota 2, League of Legends, StarCraft II, WarCraft III, FIFA, Hearthstone, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and Honor of Kings. Vici Gaming's Dota 2 team was one of the best in many tournaments, including finishing in second place at The International 2014.
Vici Gaming stopped participating in esports entirely after their Honor of Kings team, which played in the top competition for Honor of Kings in China called the King Pro League, was sold to JD Gaming on June 3, 2024.
Dota 2
Vici Gaming was founded on September 21, 2012, with the help of "Fengdidi," who previously played for PanDarea Gaming under the name PanPan. Fengdidi selected skilled players who were highly ranked on the Chinese DotA ladder at that time.
At the time of joining, the players had no prior professional experience, except for sydm, who had previously played for TyLoo. The team's mid lane player, Cty, had shown promise by winning a 1v1 tournament organized by 2009, where he defeated well-known players like Ferrari_430, Sylar, Hao, and other top Chinese players shortly before being recruited.
The team qualified for the 2012 G-League Season 2 by defeating Noah's Ark in the preliminaries.
On January 28, Vici signed Greedy, with YaphetS as the captain, to serve as their online/backup squad. The rest of the team included xiaotuji, Maybe, nL_Ks, and CaptainGiveMeBall. The team focused on Dota, though they later expanded to Dota 2.
On March 1, Vici signed ZSMJ, the founder of a Dota 2 squad. It was believed that ZSMJ brought some teammates from his project with Chisbug to Vici Gaming, including Sgua_Li. In the following weeks, Vici made roster changes, removing some players privately and publicly inviting other players to join.
On March 28, it was announced that carry player ZSMJ replaced mid player sydm, and former carry Cty took over the mid role.
In June 2013, after being eliminated from The International 2013 qualifiers and finishing poorly in the DSL, Vici Gaming announced the departure of team executive PandaPanPan and team manager Nada. They were replaced by mikasa, who had previously played as a substitute for VG.
On October 31, Sylar joined the team as the new carry player but was not in the starting lineup for nearly two months due to contract terms. TuTu continued to play in the 2013 WPC Ace Dota 2 League.
In December 2013, Vici Gaming traveled to Poland to compete in the Raidcall EMS Fall LAN finals, joining teams like Alliance, Natus Vincere, and DK. Vici won first place at EMS One Fall. Later, they traveled to the Kingston HyperX Dota 2 League in Las Vegas but fell from the top of Dota 2 due to poor performance. Despite placing at many events, Vici did not win another title during the TI3 to TI4 season.
On April 16, former EHOME player QQQ was announced as a coach for VG.
At the end of April 2014, Vici Gaming received an invitation to The International 2014, where they placed first in the group stage and second overall. They lost to NewBee in the finals 3–1.
On August 17, rOtK announced his retirement. On August 26, Sylar left the team, and Black^ and iceiceice joined. VG performed strongly with their new lineup for the rest of the year, becoming the best Chinese team.
In mid-December, they traveled to Los Angeles to compete in The Summit 2 and defeated Cloud9 3–1 for the championship.
VG had a strong 2015 season. In February, they reached the finals of the Dota 2 Asian Championships, the largest event outside of The International, but lost 0–3 to Evil Geniuses in the Grand Finals, despite defeating them 2–0 the day before. This result caused uncertainty for the team as the next International was months away.
On March 11, Hao joined VG, replacing Black^ in the carry position after a month of speculation.
On March 15, the team announced the creation of a youth squad, VG.P. On April 27, Vici won Starladder XII after defeating Invictus Gaming 3–1. They were officially invited to The International 2015, with a prize pool of $18,377,817. On July 2, they confirmed they had obtained their USA visas to participate. They finished 4th, earning $1,562,114. During the first day of The International 2015, VG became the first team outside of Europe to earn the Verified Tag on Facebook, following Fnatic and Gambit Gaming. After the post-TI break, Hao returned to Newbee, and VG acquired Xu "BurNIng" Zhilei and Yang "YJ" Pu. They finished 2nd in the Nanyang Championships, losing 2–3 to Secret in the Grand Finals. They participated in the first-ever Major by Valve in Frankfurt, Germany, finishing 5th with $205,000 in winnings.
In September 2016, Vici Gaming signed an agreement with American basketball player Jeremy Lin and investment group China Digital Group to form a new Dota 2 team, VGJ, aimed at creating a celebrity brand in esports. In 2017, the team split into two branches: VGJ.Thunder in China and VGJ.Storm in North America. In May 2018, VGJ.Storm won the GESC Thailand Dota 2 Minor tournament, while VGJ.Thunder qualified for The International 2018 with a top-eight finish in the Dota Pro Circuit. VGJ.Storm also won the North American regional qualifiers to gain an invite. In September 2018, the VGJ organization ended its partnership with Vici Gaming due to new Dota Pro Circuit rules. As a result, VGJ.Thunder was disbanded, and VGJ.Storm was rebranded as J.Storm, focusing on the North American esports scene.
League of Legends
On December 1, 2015, VG hired former SKT T1 mid laner Lee "Easyhoon" Ji-hoon to join their team.
On January 2, 2021, VG changed their name to Rare Atom.