Darshan Upadhyaya
Darshan Upadhyaya, better known by his in-game name ZionSpartan and mononymously as Darshan, is a Canada-born American professional League of Legends player. He is most known for his four and a half year long tenure as Counter Logic Gaming's top laner from November 2014–May 2019, a time during which CLG and ZionSpartan made both the 2015 World Championship and the 2016 World Championship.[1][2] ZionSpartan and CLG also won the 2015 NALCS Summer Split as well as the 2016 NALCS Spring Split.[3] From the start of his career to November 2015, Upadhyaya played under the screenname ZionSpartan; from November 2015–2019, he played under the screenname Darshan; and from 2020 to the present, he has resumed playing as ZionSpartan.[4]
ZionSpartan Darshan | ||||||||||||||
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Darshan Upadhyaya | ||||||||||||||
Personal information | ||||||||||||||
Born | November 12, 1994 | |||||||||||||
Hometown | Poway, California | |||||||||||||
Nationality | Canadian–American | |||||||||||||
Nickname(s) | ZionSpartan | |||||||||||||
Career information | ||||||||||||||
Status | Active | |||||||||||||
League | NA Academy League | |||||||||||||
Current team | GGS Academy | |||||||||||||
Games | League of Legends | |||||||||||||
Role | Top Laner | |||||||||||||
Career history | ||||||||||||||
2012 | Monomaniac eSports | |||||||||||||
2012–2013 | Team Dynamic | |||||||||||||
2013 | Good Game University | |||||||||||||
2013–2014 | Team Coast | |||||||||||||
2014 | Team Dignitas | |||||||||||||
2014–2019 | Counter Logic Gaming | |||||||||||||
2019 | CLG Academy | |||||||||||||
2019–present | GGS Academy | |||||||||||||
Career highlights and awards | ||||||||||||||
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Honors
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Darshan was elected the inaugural president of the LCS Players Association in 2018, a loose union-like advocacy organization that represents the interests of contracted players in the LCS, and continues to hold that position as of 2020.[5] As of 2020, ZionSpartan is currently the top laner for Golden Guardians Academy in the NA Academy League.
Early life
Darshan Upadhyaya resided in Poway, California before joining professional eSports.[6]
While growing up, Upadhyaya was often called by his peers his in-game name, ZionSpartan. This was branded by the NALCS in a video titled "Even his teacher called him ZionSpartan."[7]
Tournament results
Counter Logic Gaming
- 1st – 2015 Summer NA LCS
- 12–13th – 2015 League of Legends World Championship
- 2nd – IEM X San Jose
- 1st – 2016 Spring NA LCS
- 2nd – 2016 Mid-Season Invitational
- 4th – 2016 NA LCS Summer regular season
- 4th – 2016 NA LCS Summer playoffs
References
- Steven Asarch. "'League of Legends' CLG Manages To Beat Crowd Favorite TSM In NA LCS Finals". iDigitalTimes.com. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
- "TSM and CLG are in the NA LCS finals (again)". yahoo.com. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
- "G2 Esports, Counter Logic Gaming are the EU and NA LCS champions". yahoo.com. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
- https://www.invenglobal.com/articles/10141/darshan-changes-name-back-to-zionspartan-embraces-his-past
- https://esportsobserver.com/na-lcs-players-association-president/
- "This 18-year-old is skipping college to become a League of Legends pro". The Daily Dot. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
- "Even His Teacher Calls Him ZionSpartan". Youtube. Retrieved 14 March 2018.