G.O.A.T – Greatest Of All Time, is a term commonly used in sports to refer to individuals or performances that are deemed perfect, outstanding, and visually stunning in history. Over the course of 10 years of professional League of Legends, we have witnessed countless moments and peak seasons created by the world’s top stars.
In this series, let us explore the most impressive performances of players in the history of League of Legends tournaments.
The most standard measure to define a peak performance is victory at the Worlds Championship. Therefore, it is not surprising that the list featured in this article mainly includes players who have reached the pinnacle of glory in the most prestigious tournament in professional League of Legends.
Doinb – Worlds 2019
Entering the Worlds 2019 as the reigning LPL champions, FunPlus Phoenix, led by Doinb, was still not highly regarded, as their international competition experience was a complete zero. In fact, this skepticism was further solidified when FPX lost on their opening day against J Team.
However, the subsequent performance of Doinb and his teammates was encapsulated in two words: “destruction”. The only team that could pose a challenge to FPX was the then defending champions – Invictus Gaming. But when both TheShy and Rookie fell in the semifinals, nothing could stop FPX from becoming the new world champions.
Although Tian was the MVP of the Worlds that year, in reality, all the awe and admiration were directed towards Doinb – the unconventional mid-laner of the Phoenix squad. Doinb broke the record for the number of champions used by a player at the Worlds, having picked 8 different champions, surpassing Faker from 2013 who used 7 champions.
Notably, among those champions, there were 6 short-range champions, including super tanky picks like Sion, Malphite, or Nautilus. Clearly, the solo lane fighter meta was not the strength of mid-laners, but Doinb thrived, and this “jester” quickly proved the effectiveness of this unique playstyle with a series of remarkable performances. League of Legends fans jokingly stated that if it weren’t for Doinb, it would be a dream to think that one day Malphite would have a world champion skin.
TheShy – Worlds 2018
Even at the current time, when TheShy is experiencing a decline in performance, people still search for reasons surrounding his attitude and motivation, or perhaps health issues. Because no one dares to doubt his individual skill.
The Korean player was truly pivotal in elevating Invictus Gaming. In his first season with the new team – LPL Summer 2017, TheShy helped the “noisy rich kid” IG achieve a 3rd place finish, narrowly losing to WE in the Regional Finals of the Worlds. Before that, IG had only qualified once for the biggest tournament in professional League of Legends in 2015 and returned as one of the bottom-ranked teams.
At the Worlds 2018, IG, inspired by Rookie, showcased a playstyle that was extremely solid yet fiery. And that fiery spirit came from the overwhelming strength of the top lane – where TheShy held the fort.
With a wide champion pool, top-notch laning skills, bold playstyle, and unpredictable maneuvers, TheShy in 2018 had no rival in the upper half of Summoner’s Rift, and it was this “kid” who even sent the then number one top laner in the world – Smed, into the twilight of his career.
Uzi – MSI 2018
If you are a die-hard fan of LPL, 1000% of readers will immediately recognize why Uzi, with one MSI championship – a title lesser than the Worlds, appears on this list. Simply because MSI 2018 marked the first time in history that a Chinese team defeated a Korean team to claim an international title.
Uzi’s performance that year was simply too perfect, and saying he carried RNG to glory is not wrong at all. However, it should also be noted that Uzi was the core of the playstyle that RNG pursued, and his teammates were “no pushovers”; they simply maximized the support play for the carry.
As for Uzi, he simply shot at the whole world, with the pinnacle being the turnaround in Game 4 of the finals against LongZhu Gaming, where Uzi’s Kai’Sa made some daring dives into the enemy formation while trailing by 7k gold, successfully defending RNG and escaping safely.
(to be continued)…