In the history of League of Legends, as of now, there are 2 teams from the LPL region that have won the Worlds Championship: Invictus Gaming and FunPlus Phoenix. However, they are not only teams that helped usher in a period of dominance for the LPL region, ending the continuous reign of teams from their arch-rival LCK at Worlds, but IG and FPX also share a deeper connection.
Specifically, recently, the Chinese site Douban unexpectedly brought up a transfer deal that, if it had come to fruition, could have changed a lot in the history of League of Legends in the LPL region. The Chinese network reported that after the 2018 season concluded with IG winning the Worlds Championship, Ning was contacted by FPX with a salary of 15 million RMB per year. However, as fans know, Ning did not leave. The reason revealed was that Ning wanted to play alongside Rookie and TheShy and was willing to accept a lower salary at IG and extend his contract with the then reigning Worlds Champion for another 3 years. Ning later went live and confirmed he would not be joining FPX.
However, things did not unfold as Ning (and perhaps IG fans) had imagined. IG, after a year at the peak, saw core players including Ning displaying signs of decline. Perhaps among them, only TheShy and somewhat Rookie continued to perform well. In fact, during the period from 2019 to the end of the 2020 season, Ning was even seen as a “surplus” when IG tried to push him out but no team seemed interested. Not to mention, Ning was also embroiled in rumors of discord with TheShy and Rookie, causing internal turmoil within IG.
At present, Ning is still part of IG but he has not played any matches in 2021 and can be considered unemployed. Although he frequently livestreams and provides insights and opinions on the LPL and various teams and players, perhaps Ning understands that his career at IG has ended in a way that is full of regret for both himself and IG fans.