The beginning of the LPL's story is a tragic one. At the League of Legends season 3 world championship, Royal Club, one of the LPL's representatives made it all the way to the world finals, carried by their superstar player Uzi. In the finals they would face off against Korean powerhouse SKTelecom T1. Royal Club was eviscerated by SKT, losing the series 3 games to none.
In the season 4 world championship all three LPL representatives made top 8, but none of them could finish the job. Team EDward Gaming finished in 5-8, Team OMG finished 3/4 and Royal Club once again fell short of the title, finishing second. This time Royal had fallen to a different Korean powerhouse, Samsung White, and once again superstar Uzi couldn't take the final step.
In 2015 China finally made it's big break when EDward Gaming beat the best team of all time SKTelecom T1 3-2 in the MSI finals. Later that year on the worlds stage all of China completely flopped though. The 1st seed LGD lost miserably in the group stage. The 2nd seed EDG was the only LPL team to make it to the knockout stage, but they got destroyed in the first round by Europe's 1st seed Fnatic. None of the teams were even close to good enough to make it to the finals like RNG had done in previous seasons.
In 2016 and 2017 again China barely made any progress at the world championship or at MSI. At the 2016 MSI RNG lost to American representatives CLG in the semifinals. At worlds 2016 RNG and EDG both lost to Korean teams in the quarter-finals. At MSI 2017 China's representative Team World Elite lost in the semi-finals to G2, and at worlds 2017 RNG fell to SKTelecom T1 in the semi-finals, while Team WE lost to Samsung Galaxy on the other side of the bracket.
Touted as the second best region in the world, China had only actually ever beat Korea once. Every MSI championship was Korean dominance, every world final from 2015 on was a Korean team versus another Korean team. That was, until 2018. In 2018 RNG finally won MSI, beating Korean team Longzhu gaming. The crownless had finally become kings. But that wasn't it for China. At the world championship the Chinese teams looked stronger than ever, but no one was actually sure they could take it all.
At the world championship in 2018 the Chinese representatives looked stacked, and not only that, the Korean teams were looking worse than they ever had. This was their chance, but it was also Europe's chance. China was called the second best, but Europe wasn't far behind. China's 1st seed RNG faced off against Europe's 3rd seed G2 esports, things were looking perfect, RNG was on the path to victory. And then they lost. G2 upset RNG 3-2 in the quarter-finals. Was all hope lost for the LPL?
Not necessarily. China's second seed Invictus Gaming led by Rookie and TheShy beat the Korean favorites in a 5 game thriller, goin on to beat G2 in the semi-finals, and then Fnatic in the finals. The LPL had finally done it. They had finally won.
Then, IG completely collapsed at MSI, losing to Team Liquid in the semi-finals. Europe took this opportuinty to grab the crown after beating SKT in the semi-finals, G2 beat Team Liquid in the finals to claim the trophy. Now come worlds three questions were on everyone's mind, could China take back what was stolen? Could Europe become the new kings? Or will Korea find its dominance again? China's upstart talent in FunPLus Phoenix put all questions to rest when they dominated the tournament, securing China's second world title.
Finally, the moment of truth had come, China was on top. But how long could it last? Because of Covid-19 MSI 2020 was cancelled, but the world championship was still on, and would be held using a bubble system in China. Could the LPL win 3 times in a row, and finally win in front of their home crowd? No. Korean upstarts Damwon Gaming took the world championship in 2020, leaving bodies in their path as they annihilated everyone. Korean dominance was restored.
Now the year is 2021. MSI is happening right now. Will Damwon Gaming win internationally again? Or will RNG take the trophy back for the LPL?
