LPL Achieves a Milestone Never Seen Before in League of Legends at the End-of-Year 2024 Transfer Window
At this moment, while LCK teams have nearly finalized their rosters and started testing new players at KeSPA Cup 2024, LPL seems to just be starting to “wrap up” their deals. On December 3 and 4, there were continuous announcements of player departures from LPL teams during the end-of-season 2024 transfer window. This inadvertently helped LPL achieve a special milestone.
Accordingly, with EDG officially parting ways with JieJie, all three LPL teams that have previously won the World Championship no longer have any members from those championship rosters. Although Invictus Gaming is preparing to build a new “super team” with the inclusion of TheShy and possibly Rookie, they have not officially announced it yet.
This special milestone for LPL is even “unprecedented” in League of Legends history. As long as Faker is still playing for T1, there will always be at least one World Champion still wearing the jersey of the team that they won with. And even when Faker retires, it’s very likely that there will be players like Gumayusi, Oner… to take over this “position”.
But it also shows the harshness and elimination of LPL through each transfer season
The absence of any World Champion still wearing the jersey of the team they won with also reflects two factors: LPL players are prone to losing motivation or form after winning, and the harsh elimination environment of LPL spares no one. Former players may still be revered (TheShy, Doinb, Rookie, JackeyLove…), but it will be very difficult for them to replicate their past achievements.
And after this golden era, LPL can hardly think about glory anymore. The 2022 World Championship was an “LCK internal conflict”, the 2023 World Championship saw T1’s dominance, while at the 2024 World Championship, BLG lacked those genius moments while Faker had at least two such instances by himself.
LPL has always been one of the strongest regions in League of Legends. However, they are experiencing a decline for various reasons. The question remains, when will LPL regain its golden era, and perhaps even the teams here cannot answer that.