The top lane area of professional League of Legends in the 2020 season has witnessed the rise of many “new stars”, but alongside that, there are also significant disappointments from several top names.
Khan
The 2019 season can be considered a failure for SKT (T1) even though they still secured a domestic double title. As for Khan, he remains the most controversial name, standing at the crossroads of being “a team-carrying hero” and “a star lacking stability”.
The relationship between Khan and T1 ended after just one short season, the Dream Team disbanded, and Khan answered the call of the promised land LPL, where he joined the roster of the reigning world champions, FunPlus Phoenix.
However, perhaps at this moment, when T1 fans have calmed their longing for Khan after Canna’s excellent performances, the player himself has realized that leaving Korea was a mistake.
Khan feels completely out of place in FPX’s lineup, and unfortunately, during the times he appeared, the Phoenix team often lost more than they won. Even in the recent semifinals, when FPX was trailing 0-2 against JDG, Gimgoon was still the trusted name, not Khan.
Rumored to have a contract worth up to $2 million per year, it is clear that not being able to compete for a starting position is quite hard to accept for a top star like Khan. If he does not find a way out or improve his form soon, the reputation of the former DragonX and T1 player may soon fade from the professional League of Legends scene.
Huni
Becoming the blockbuster signing of the “emerging power” Dignitas with a value of $2.3 million, Huni naturally became a name with high expectations. However, reality has proven that throwing money around recklessly has never been a good thing.
The $2.3 million that Dignitas spent to secure Huni accounts for more than half of the total budget of this team, resulting in a lineup that “carries the top lane but has holes in all four other positions”.
Froggen, Akaadian, and Aphromoo are all legends of the Western Esports scene, but their golden times are now in the past. Dignitas’s lineup can be said to be full of fame but lacking in strength, not to mention Huni’s performance has genuinely declined since the season he qualified for Worlds with Clutch Gaming.
Dignitas finished the LCS Spring 2020 in 7th place out of 10, achieving 8 wins and 10 losses. In reality, they were only one tie-break away from the playoffs, and overall, this is an acceptable result. However, trading a multi-million dollar signing just to “almost make the playoffs” is indeed a losing business for Dignitas, and recently, according to official information from Riot, Huni is no longer in the roster of this team for LCS Summer 2020.
Zeros
Zeros is a rather special and rare case. Saying goodbye to GAM Esports after the end of the 2019 season, the number one superstar of League of Legends in Vietnam was expected to follow in the footsteps of two predecessors, SofM and Levi, to join a team in the LPL.
However, waiting and waiting, until the LPL preseason transfer window ended, there was still no sign of Zeros in the roster of any Chinese team, while he himself was continuously checking in at… Vietnam.
Earlier in March, Zeros returned to GAM Esports after half a season of absence. No one questioned why he didn’t join the LPL anymore, but only cared about how Zeros would perform after a long break from competition.
The result was that the number one top lane star in Vietnam showed signs of losing form. His performances whenever he was subbed in for Kiaya no longer brought overwhelming dominance over opponents.
In the VCS Spring 2020 finals, Zeros was once again brought onto the field while GAM was trailing 1-2 and had nothing to lose, but even winning the fourth game only bore Dia1’s mark, while Zeros had a completely lackluster Bo5.
Zeros’s lackluster return coincided with GAM once again losing the VCS championship crown, which they thought they had firmly in hand. Perhaps, the unsuccessful foreign venture marks a stormy season that Zeros just had to endure.