In the promotional activities leading up to Worlds 2021, international media outlets are currently conducting numerous polls with various criteria to reignite the proud history of the world’s premier League of Legends tournament.
One of those criteria is to identify the most outstanding names in the history of the Worlds tournaments. Recently, FMKOREA released a list of the greatest line-ups from various Worlds, with each line-up comprising a group of 5 renowned superstars who have made their mark in this tournament. Unsurprisingly, the number 1 line-up in the list includes champions regarded as the greatest in history, including:
Top Lane: Marin 2015.
Jungle: Canyon 2020.
Mid Lane: Faker 2015.
AD Carry: Bang 2016.
Support: Mata 2014.
Excluding Canyon, the other 4 names are all veteran players, and not only champions but also have left their own marks on their journey to conquer the Summoner’s Cup. Faker and Bang are two of the stars with the most championships, while Marin and Mata are viewed as the greatest players in their respective roles, helping to redefine the gameplay of League of Legends.
When placed alongside their “predecessors”, Canyon seems to be a bit overshadowed; however, his position in the number 1 line-up in Worlds history is entirely deserved, as he stands before a huge opportunity to break multiple records set by his predecessors by maintaining a stable performance throughout the 2021 season.
In addition to the number 1 line-up, FMKOREA also released a list of 4 other line-ups, including:
Line-up number 2: TheShy 2018, Bengi 2015, Faker 2016, Ruler 2017, Wolf 2015.
Line-up number 3: Nuguri 2020, Dandy 2014, Faker 2013, Bang 2015, Wolf 2016.
Line-up number 4: TheShy 2019, Ning 2018, Rookie 2018, Uzi 2018, CoreJJ 2017.
Line-up number 5: CuVee 2017, Bengi 2016, Faker 2017, PraY 2016, BeryL 2020.
The most notable point is that among the 5 line-ups mentioned above, the members of FunPlus Phoenix, who won Worlds 2019, are completely absent, including Doinb. FMKOREA did not provide a specific explanation for this, so we can only understand that the characters in the list (4 Fakera and 1 Rookie) are considered to be superior to Doinb 2019.
Additionally, it is easy to see that most of the players featured in this list are stars from South Korea. Only Ning 2018 and Uzi 2018 are included in line-up number 4. This is also understandable, as even in the two championships from the LPL region, the stars who contributed the most were also Korean imports, notably TheShy, Rookie, and Doinb (who has become a domestic player).