League of Legends players are always looking for new and innovative ways to play the game, whether it’s a new strategy or a new “OP” build on a certain champion, but other times, it’s moves or plays so iconic that the community decides to honor a pro player with a move named after them. Whenever someone pulls off a particular move, only one name comes to mind.

These are the top 10 famous (and infamous) plays named after a pro in League of Legends history.

10. The Empire

The 10th spot is reserved for one of the most legendary rosters in League of Legends history. Darrien, Diamondprox, Alex Ich, Genja and GoSuPepper (later known as Edward) dominated the scene in the early days of LoL esports. Before their famous Moscow 5 and Gambit days, they played together on Team Empire. They were well-known for their innovative and sometimes unorthodox style, just like the play you are about to see.

To pull off an Empire means to lure the opposing team into a bush with Nunu channeling his ultimate Absolute zero in it. Also, they would often combine it with other ultimates like Krthus’ R to “one-shot” the entire enemy team. That might be common nowadays, but it was a revolutionary use of Nunu back then.

The Empire

9. The Scarra ward

As I mentioned before, not all plays on this list are godlike outplays, and his play is definitely one of them. Sometimes, trying to be innovative can backfire, and this is a prime example.

Today, a popular TFT streamer and a former Dignitas mid-laner Scarra was casually grinding soloq with his Kassadin when this golden moment happened back in 2012.

He tried to place a ward over the Dragon pit wall into bot lane tri-bush. After two unsuccessful attempts, he said “I hate this game” and the meme was born.

The Scarra ward

8. The Fnatic Death Brush

Fnatic is one of the oldest organizations in the League of Legends. They won the first World Championship as well as a record 7 European titles. Some of League’s household names like xPeke, sOAZ and Rekkles played (or play) there for years.

Fnatic was never afraid to innovate. All the way back in Season One, they invented one of the most famous “cheese” plays ever. The Fnatic death brush refers to 5 players hiding in a singe brush, waiting for enemies to facecheck or pass by. They would use this strategy on level one or when they fell behind. In all scenarios, the goal is to catch the enemy off guard and gain advantages when opponents don’t expect it.

The Fnatic Death Brush

7. The Cpt. Jack

Cpt. Jack was one of the best ADCs in the early days of competitive League of Legends. As a member of MiG Blaze (later rebranded as Azubu and lastly CJ Entus), he won a Champions Korea title back in 2012. As an ADC, he was known for his mechanical prowess on champions like Vayne.

On that note, to pull off a Cpt. Jack means to perfectly use Cleanse or QSS as soon as you get crowd controlled. It is not easy to do, especially in the middle of a tense teamfight, but Cpt. Jack used it as efficiently as possible.

The Cpt. Jack

6. The Smitevicious

At the 6th spot, we have yet another infamous play. Saintvicious is a former professional jungler that played in the early years of the North American League of Legends. Even though he was a good player with a decent career (he transitioned to coaching in 2015), he will always be remembered for failing to secure objectives.

As he missed many crucial smites on the stage, the community decided to give him a nickname. When you combine a summoner spell Smite with Sainvicious, you get the “Smitevicious“. To this day, whenever a player fails a smite, he is referred to as a Smitevicious.

The Smitevicious



5. The Misaya

Coming into the League of Legends top 5 plays named after a pro, we have a TF master Misaya.

Twisted Fate has been very powerful for a long time in League of Legends. However, a former WE midlaner, Misaya, took TF mechanics to another level.

TF’s ultimate Destiny is a great way to create numbers advantage and start fights. Misaya perfected the art of teleporting into the enemy team, landing a gold card onto a priority target, and using Zhonya’s hourglass to prevent incoming damage. That way, he would bait some important cooldowns from the enemy team and buy enough time for his teammates to collapse.

To this day, players have tried to mimic his TF play, with even some of the best like Reginald or Bjergsen failing to live up to Misaya’s mastery.

The Misaya

4. The Flame Horizon

Flame is one of the longest-standing players that are still active. Back in his prime, the Korean was so dominant that he would obliterate his opposition in the top lane. He was so good in wave management and abusing freezes that he would create astronomic CS leads.

To this day, pulling off a “Flame Horizon” means to have a 100+ CS lead over your lane opponent. That kind of dominance is infrequent, however, and Flame’s name is always brought up when it happens on a professional level.

The Flame Horizon

Honorable mentions

Before we get to the top 3, let’s mention some of the plays that didn’t get on this list.

Next time you lock in Thresh, try to make sure not to pull off a Yellowstar, because you will probably get flamed by your teammates in chat.

Also, pulling off a Brokenshard isn’t recommended, as it means to get executed by a jungle camp.

Doing a Cody Sun isn’t the best idea as well. As an ADC, you are not supposed to flash into the enemy team and instantly die.

However, if you are ahead in the game, try not to throw the game on the Baron or “Dignitoss” it like Team Dignitas once used to.

Now let’s proceed to the most memorable League of Legends plays named after a player.

3. The MadLife

If you have ever played a pick-up basketball game, you probably heard someone yell “Kobe” after scoring a nice jump shot. Or maybe shout “Messi” if someone scores a wonderful goal in football.

Just like that, you definitely saw someone spamming “MADLIFE!!!” in all-chat when he hits a sick hook with Thresh or Blitzcrank. The reason for that is MadLife doing it first.

To do a MadLife means to hit a hook with Thresh or Blitzcrank, correctly predicting the direction in which they are about to flash or blink to try to avoid the hook, starting the hook animation before their blink. It is a very hard thing to do and you all know how satisfying it is to pull it off.

Well, let’s just say MadLife did it regularly on the highest possible level.

The MadLife

2. The inSec

No matter what year it is, Lee Sin is always META. The reason for that is “The Blind Monk” being very effective if given to the right hands. Most junglers’ favorite champion to show off their mechanical abilities is none other than Lee Sin. And the core play you can pull off with the champion is The inSec. He once saw a move in Korean soloq, perfected it, and popularized it.

Pulling off The inSec means to ward jump or flash (or both) behind a high-priority target and kick it towards your teammates in order to pick them off or initiate a teamfight. There are many variations to the theme that developed through the years, but original is to first use your Q to close distance.



The inSec

1. The xPeke

Even though it wasn’t easy to decide between 1st and 2nd, in the end, The xPeke took the title.

It is safe to say that this is one of the most iconic moments in all of esports. It happened in 2013 in a final group stage match of IEM Katowice between Fnatic and SK Gaming. After 50+ minutes of this very close back and forth game, SK failed to end the game with their push. Right after that, Fnatic tried to end the game on their own, but SK managed to deny it with only Nexus standing. After killing two Fnatic members, SK was ready to push once again and end the game for sure.However, xPeke “backdoored” and successfully destroyed SK’s nexus on his Kassadin. The rest is history…

The xPeke

Which play is your favourite?

Feel free to share your opinion in the comments below.

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