If you’ve been following the League of Legends Tier 2 scene, you know that Ganbat "Yuuji" Ulziidelger is one of the most anticipated NACL players of the last several years. The 22-year-old jungler, dubbed the “Mongolian Monster” for his individual dominance, could have easily joined an LTA team ahead of the 2025 season — if only he was counted as an NA player. Yuuji was assured he would count as an NA resident after years of living and studying in the US, only for his status to revert at the last second.

It was too late in the offseason for an LTA team to justify picking up an import rookie jungler, and too late for any LEC team to secure an EU work visa before the Winter split began.  And so Yuuji — despite being the back-to-back NACL MVP — stared down another year spent in a pond where he had already proved he was the biggest fish.

Yuuji would soon get a chance to reach the sea, though. After a shocking last-place finish at the inaugural First Stand, Team Liquid Head Coach Jake “Spawn” Tiberi began holding tryouts and substituting players in scrims. The process was intended to help the team isolate and identify issues — it didn’t necessitate roster changes, but they weren’t out of the question either.

A month later, of all the prospects that Liquid tested, only Yuuji remained. TL began the process of acquiring him as a sixth-man jungler from DarkZero Dragonsteel, Maryville University’s NACL team. Only days after he got the news — before he’d even moved out of St. Louis — we sat down with Yuuji to hear about his decade-long journey from playing 250-ping NA solo queue in Mongolia to the Riot Games Arena in Los Angeles.

How were you introduced to League of Legends?

I was visiting one of my cousins with my brother, and he was playing League at the time. I just thought the game looked fun. Because I used to play DOTA before, I was like, “Let me try playing one game.” I played Master Yi jungle one game, and I got a pentakill. 

I was like, “Oh, wow. This game is fun.”

You got a pentakill in your first game? What year was this?

No, it didn’t have [real players]. Bots. [...] It's just, like, season three … I don't know what age I was.

When did you find out about pro play?

Probably Season 4 — I saw SKT winning worlds at the time, I think. And I just [looked up] Faker gameplay vods, you know? And I just started watching his gameplay.

You had really high ping at this time, right?

Yeah. At this time, I was playing on, like, 220 to 250 ping [...] in Mongolia. At the time, I thought that League had only one server, so I was just playing on NA for zero. I was on, like, 220 - 250 ping. Then I got Diamond 1 in NA [in Season 5].

So I think it was around, like, Season 6, Season 7. I found out that there's other servers on League. So I was like, “Oh, there's the EU West server. Let me try it.” I had 130 - 150 ping. When I started playing on EUW, I got Challenger in a year or so. 

How big of a change was that ping?

Once you start playing the game on high ping, it's a completely different game. But once you start playing on low ping and try to play on high ping [again], it's just unplayable.

When does pro play occur to you as an option?

It was probably during my high school years. When I entered high school, I decided to take hard English lessons so I could practice [and] come to the US for college. So, in my last year of high school, I was just scrolling through Twitter, and I found out that there’s scholarships for League players.

I kinda thought maybe I could get it, and just started DMing schools on Twitter. One school called Missouri Baptist University replied back to me, and that’s how I came into the US.

Did you ever consider schools in Europe, or playing League there?

No. I never considered Europe. [...] I don't know. I guess I just didn’t see any reason to go to EU for education. My mom did her master’s here in the US. [...]

Honestly, my parents support me a lot, especially my mom. She follows my team and my account on twitter, so she’s always up to date on whether we win or lose. They really supported my decision to move to the US. I think they always wanted me to go abroad.

They usually never tell me what to do, so I feel lucky knowing that, whatever path I choose, they’ll support me no matter what.

How did your journey in Tier 3 and Tier 2 go?

After Missouri Baptist University, I transferred to Bethany Lutheran College. When I first came to the US, I got rank 5 in a few months, so there were some amateur teams just dm’ing me.

Was this your first time [playing]under 100 ping?

I was on ~20 ping. I was on a very low ping at the time. [...] I mean, I had played on the Chinese server, which was like 90 ping at the time. But I didn't play a lot. I just got Challenger and I stopped playing there. [...] Just with language, you know?

It's so hard to talk to people [on the Chinese server]. I don't even know Chinese, so I couldn't talk to them. So it just didn't feel right. 

At Bethany Lutheran, you started competing in Amateur tournaments, right?

So I transferred to Bethany Lutheran College, and I got the invitation from Academy teams to try out. FlyQuest was one of the teams that tried me out and really liked me. I played in the tryout, and I kinda smurfed, and they picked me up.

You moved up really slow despite your skill and achievement in Tier 2 — how did you stay motivated through that? 

It’s probably just a mindset thing. I knew that it was going to be hard for me to go to Tier 1. Taking an import slot is, like, very big. And going to EU was also very hard, because I would have to start from the beginning. I can’t spend too many years there, because I’m already too far into my career right now.

I just [kept] telling myself, “I shouldn’t worry about the future and what’s going to happen —  I just need to enjoy the moment and work hard every day. Eventually, it’ll pay off.” [...]

There were so many times that I was depressed. Just last offseason, when I couldn’t make it to LTA, I was kinda depressed. I was telling my coach that maybe I don’t want to play the next NACL, because my [mental] was kinda low.

Let’s talk about that. You were unanimously considered worthy of a Tier 1 slot in EU or NA, but the offseason went wrong.

I was told that I would be considered an NA resident, and one of the LTA teams was supposed to pick me up. But after I found out I’m not, they’d already picked their imports, so I didn’t have any chance to get in there.

After that, I was talking to a team from LEC, [but] basically it was so late in the offseason [that] they didn’t have any time to get my visa for it. 

When the chance came from TL, what went through your head?

Again, at that time, I just told myself that I'd just try my best and play how I usually play in scrims. [...] I didn't want to get my hopes up because I got fucked over, and I know how it impacted me. I was kind of worried that if my hopes were up, it might fuck me up. 

Even before the decision was made, you were splitting scrims with the team — what was that like?

Well, I didn’t play that many scrims, but when I played I just tried to learn as much as I could and have fun. Because when you play at the higher levels, the game becomes more fun to me.

In NACL, there's so many scrims that are kinda useless. Or there are teams that, if they lose early game, they’ll just FF the game, and we have to start again. Stuff like that.

What was your reaction when it finally locked?

There was a [conversation] about getting me, but it took one week, then two weeks. You know? It was so slow. So I was anxious during those times. [...]

I was preparing myself for the worst and the best. When I heard the news, I was so happy. I thought, “Now is my chance. I get a chance to prove myself.” 

Where are you right now, and when do you fly to LA?

Saint Louis. [Flight is] this Thursday (4/31). 

But when you get there, you won't be eligible to play immediately, right? 

I’m currently on a student visa, so it will take some time to change my student visa to a [work] visa so that I could be able to play. It's probably gonna take some time before I get it. After that, I think I’ll be eligible to play in the LTA. [...] I don't know the exact estimate, but it's probably like four weeks.

Can you give me your first impressions of every player on the team?

I found that Impact is actually very funny. He kinda doesn't look funny from the outside. But when I start scrimming with him, that guy's actually so funny. He’s actually got dad jokes. Like, he’s got the old jokes. It’s just funny.

He does seem kind of scary, doesn’t he?

I mean, that's what I thought too. But he's actually a chill, funny guy. 

[UmTi] seems like a very sweet guy. He [always] wants to help people. He just seems very sweet. [...]

APA — I could tell that guy is a tryhard, and he tries his best every single game. When I scrimmed with him, after the game, he also DM’d me to help me.

You didn’t play with him at Maryville, but do you ever hear stories?

I hear a lot. Like, so many stories.

Can you give me one?

I don’t know if I [can] say it, you know? I’m… I’m not gonna say it.

Alright, what about Yeon and CoreJJ?

[Yeon] seems like a very chill dude that works very hard. And he’s sent me so many anime profile pictures. And I was like —

Profile pictures for you to use?

Profile pictures, yeah. I was actually surprised, he has so many. He just kept sending them. Like, “Wow. Nice [profile] pictures.” 

Core seems like a very good leader, and he's willing to help other people out. If I made some mistakes in the scrim, he’d pull me [aside] and explain how I should play the sequence.

[Spawn] seems like a very chill dude. When I watched the TL documentaries, he seemed kinda scary. But when I actually talked to him, he's very nice and very professional.

Biggest gameplay change moving to Tier 1?

I don't know. I think our team in NACL is kinda good, so we also try to play to the highest level in the NACL. So I guess it’ll take some time to [see], playing against other LTA players. But they’re very good, mechanically. In NACL, you rarely see someone that’s insane. But when I was playing LTA teams in scrims with the team I'm just like, “Wow. These guys are actually good.” [...]

Honestly, I’m excited to play against literally every player, [because] I know that most of the players in the LTA are better than the players in NACL. But I do want to play against my old teammates like Tomo, Jerry, and Massu.

Message to the fans?

Well, to be fair, I don't have much to say. I just wanna let my gameplay show it in a way. I don't wanna talk too much right now. I'm just excited to play in the LTA and finally prove myself.

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