IG 2025 and the Grand Debut
As announced earlier, the lineup of IG for the 2025 season was officially revealed on the evening of December 8. Not just through social media posts, IG held a spectacular ceremony at the Chengdu High-tech Zone Stadium, with a player introduction process reminiscent of this year’s World Championship. Moreover, IG gifted many casters, streamers, and celebrities in the League of Legends community with their new uniforms, creating an immensely powerful media effect.
Indeed, looking at the “super team” that IG possesses for the 2025 season, such a grand introduction seems entirely justified. This team has welcomed back two of its legends, TheShy and Rookie, and also recruited stars who have previously won the World Championship (Meiko, Jiejie) and MSI (Gala). With the reputation that these players hold and the spectacular debut, IG promises to shake up the LPL in the upcoming 2025 season.
LPL Fans Mock IG 2025 as Just “Famous but Not Real”
Despite having so many stars, the IG version 2025 has yet to fully earn the trust of LPL fans. Numerous negative and even mocking comments have appeared on various League of Legends forums in the land of billionaires aimed at IG following their official lineup announcement. Some fans even claim that this “new” IG is merely a publicity stunt, with no real chance of competing for titles.
Fairly speaking, LPL fans have their reasons to doubt the success of IG 2025. In reality, TheShy has been out of competition for the entire 2024 season, so fans cannot ascertain his current form. Meanwhile, Rookie and Jiejie had a pretty disappointing 2024 season without any standout performances. If Rookie’s NIP had lost 0-8 in the LPL Summer 2024 group stage, EDG and Jiejie couldn’t even secure a playoff spot. Gala and Meiko had what could be considered acceptable performances with LNG or TES, but both teams were eliminated very early in the recent 2024 World Championship.
This shows that although IG 2025 is a star-studded lineup on paper, it is very difficult for them to instill confidence in fans as a title contender. The positive aspect that the “new” IG brings to the LPL might be the significant media effect to draw fans back to watch the tournament. Clearly, in the context of a severe decline in viewer numbers during the 2024 season, the return of big stars is essential. As for their competitive performance, fans may need to wait a bit longer to make a more accurate assessment of IG’s “super team”.