My Favorite Teams in Spring 2021
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FunPlus Phoenix
Not only are FunPlus Phoenix one of the top teams, they are also one of my favorite teams. FPX were the favorites to win the LPL title this split, Spring 2021, but they just fell short to RNG. Pictured to the left is their star player DoinB. He plays mid lane and is one of the best players in the world. All of the LPL plays fast and aggresive, but FPX play even faster, and even more refined than any other team in the league which makes them so much fun to watch.
Pictured above is FPX's current roster. From left to right: Jungle: Tian, Top Lane: Nuguri, Support: Crisp, Midlane: DoinB, ADC: Lwx. This is FPX's strongest roster by far. Nuguri, DoinB, and Crisp are all potentially the best at their roles in the world. Tian and Lwx are no chumps as well, despite both having a bad split they are still two of the best players in China.
TOP Esports
Top Esports were the 2020 summer LPL Champions and one of the expected teams to win worlds last year. In the end they lost to LPL third Suning Gaming in a huge upset series. Their two star players are their ADC Jackeylove and Mid laner Knight, pictured here in the middle and far right respectively.
Their other players are Karsa in the Jungle, 369 in the Top Lane, and newly added Support Zhuo. Karsa and 369 are both really good facilitators for Jackeylove and Knight, which is part of what makes the team so good.
Top Esports is personally my favorite team in all of the LPL because Knight and Jackeylove are some of the most fun players in the world to watch. Another factor that makes TOP so exciting is how insanely aggressive they play. Even though almost all the LPL teams play aggressively, TOP bring that to another level. That playstyle does have its downsides though, as they lost to eventual champions RNG in the semifinals this split.
Invictus Gaming
In 2018 Invictus Gaming became the first Chinese team to win the world championship. This was one of League of Legends most recent defining moments because up until then Korean teams were basically unbeatable.
In 2018 IG's roster was Sub Toplaner Duke, Toplaner TheShy, Jungler Ning, Midlaner Rookie, ADC Jackeylove, and Support Baolan seen in the picture respectively.
Their star players were and still are TheShy and Rookie. Jackeylove, despite being amazing, was only 17 at the time and was still developing as a player.
Ever since then the team has been having problems though. After their win in 2018 they went on to win LPL spring 2019 and attend MSI. At MSI they looked unbeatable, like they would rule the world. That was, until the knockout stage of the tournament. Across from them stood American representatives Team Liquid, heavy underdogs in the series, and in one of the greatest upsets in League of Legends history Team Liquid destroyed Invictus Gaming. After that loss the team completely fell apart. Their jungler Ning and their support Baolan's skill started to waiver. Jackeylove wanted out. Rookie and TheShy couldn't carry the team alone, but they would try.
For the past few years since then they've cycled through a few different rosters with little success. The only thing they've kept the same in their two core players, Rookie and TheShy.
Li-Ning Gaming
LNG is a relatively new team who were knocked out in the first round of playoffs this split. Unlike the other teams on this list they are not former champions or insanely aggressive players, LNG play a slower game led by their jungler Tarzan, one of the best in the world.
Even though LNG play slower and more calculated they still show aggression and great playmaking. Although, their Toplaner M1kuya and Midlaner Icon aren't all that great compared to better teams in the league.
What makes this team one of my favorite teams is watching Tarzan's calculated and pristine gameplay as well as Support Iwandy's insane playmaking ability. Despite the team not being that good overall the two of them make their games interesting and fun.