Photo courtesy of Riot Games.
Since March 2013 and its very first official matches until the triumph of FunPlus Phoenix at the Worlds 2019, the LPL has made the history of major League of Legends competitions. This has affixed its signature on four major tournament finals (MSI and Worlds) since 2015, all won with four essential teams and many faces.
First franchised league, first league to bring down Korea in "Best of 5", first championship to welcome seventeen teams in 2020, the Chinese league is also the first to have stood up against the COVID-19 pandemic, which continues to suffocate competition all over the globe.
Our anniversary tribute, in seven photos that have gone around the world.
Edward Gaming Deft's carry-ad (on the left) is about to make the heist of the century in the MSI 2015 final against SK Telecom T1. On that day, China won its first international trophy by a narrow score, although Korea and the Samsung White have been on the roof of the world since the Worlds 2014.
He poses with Bang (right), historic carry-ad of the SKT T1 and future world champion the same year.
Uzi finally holds his first international trophy at MSI 2018, just a few weeks after the consecration for the Royal Never Give Up, champions of the LPL.
In competition since 2012, the Chinese carry-ad had flown over this benchmark mid-season tournament, appropriating until the 2018 Worlds the title of best player in the world.
Invictus Gaming is the first Chinese team to be crowned world champion in 2018. TheShy hugs Rookie, in tears, after a quick final victory against Fnatic, three to zero.
The two players (with replacement Duke) are the first Koreans to win the Worlds with an LPL team.
The quarterfinals in the same year were cruel to the LPL star. Beaten on the wire, three by two by G2 Esports, it is the upset of the year and the prospect of a faultless in 2018 that Uzi must cash.
The RNG carry-ad was among the favorites to lift the Summonner's Cup this year.
Reigning world champion, Invictus Gaming is led two to zero by Team Liquid, in the semifinals of MSI 2019. The five players return to the backstage, confused and awaited by their coach.
The debacle of this semi-final, lost three to one by IG, signals the greatest performance of a North American team over a Chinese team in a major tournament.
The roster has never recovered from such humiliation.
One year after Uzi, the story between the LPL and Europe finds its continuation in an upcoming final between G2 Esports and FunPlus Phoenix. On leaving the pools, all the contenders for the title pose. The G2 have Caps (right), one of the best midlaners the region has ever produced.
On the left, Doinb, defending Chinese champion and built to win, climbed all the levels before the final straight.
Final day. The Taiwanese FunPlus Phoenix coach gives his last speech, a few minutes before the players return to the stage of the AccorHotels Arena, in Paris.
Everyone except the instructions, except one. In the foreground, Doinb is lost in thought. Would he already be world champion?
Credits: Riot Games ©
There are many great moments in the history of the LPL, from the first arrivals of Korean exports and their achievements, to classic grand finals, and the league's idiosyncratic playstyle. Yet Doinb has reserved his own chapter in his pursuit of a dream. This is the story of an artist of the game.
Stopped dead in its tracks by the coronavirus outbreak in China, the LPL returns in March and could take part in the MSI, despite a delicate health context.
