Text by: Kelsey Moser

Beyond lifting the trophy, beyond Song “Rookie” Euijin’s heartfelt speech in Mandarin Chinese, beyond the Grand Final itself, one moment sticks out most iconically in the minds of the international fan remembering Invictus Gaming’s 2018 World Championship run. 21 minutes into the third game of G2 Esports vs Invictus Gaming, the gold sat relatively even at 27 thousand for each team. Invictus Gaming used an advantage from coming out ahead in a mid lane brawl to push out the bottom wave and secure vision around the soon-to-spawn Infernal Dragon.



Gao “Ning” Zhenning and Yu “JackeyLove” Wenbo quickly burned through the dragon’s health bar, but G2 Esports, eager to get something in trade, collapsed into the pit and killed Ning’s Lee Sin. G2 started to back away, but at that moment, Invictus Gaming top laner Kang “TheShy” Seunglok walked up, ulted, as Aatrox. Five members of G2 turned on him, but his third swing of Darkin Blade caught all but Petter “Hjarnan” Freyschuss in a knockup that briefly turned four health bars into blazing yellow lights.

Though JackeyLove and Rookie cleaned up the fight, that moment cemented iG’s top laner as the centerpiece of a roster previously headlined by its mid laner. Up until that point at Worlds, TheShy had smashed through every top lane 1v1, finding flexible counterpicks and demonstrating mechanical prowess. But this one moment in an otherwise inconsequential engagement is the memory that still prompts the casual fan to remember how formidable TheShy looked — how impossible it seemed that anyone in the world could rival him.



But Zhang “Zoom” Xingran of JD Gaming had been left to watch from China. Barely missing his own chance to make his mark after a 2-3 loss to EDward Gaming in the LPL Regional Qualifier, Zoom boasted a track record for top lane skill that could rival TheShy’s. While Invictus Gaming often played through their top side in 2018, JD preferred to leave Zoom to take advantage of his skill in the isolated 1v1. He had flexibility playing carries like Aatrox and Gangplank, but also having a significant impact on the likes of Ornn and his signature Swain.



In 2019 Spring, a shakeup to JD Gaming’s roster in the bottom lane altered the team’s playstyle. More and more resources went to the top lane, and Zoom adapted to play 13 unique picks in the regular season, including Ryze, Renekton, and Irelia with only one Sion game to his name.h



Though JD plodded significantly behind Invictus Gaming in the standings, it sometimes felt as if they all-ined even more on their top laner than the 2018 World Champions. Though most would say TheShy performed better than Zoom overall in terms of mechanical skill and reliability, Zoom lead TheShy in almost every top lane carry hallmark statistic including CS per minute (8.78 to 8.31), percentage of team damage (26.3% to 25.7%), and kill participation (64.3% to 55.7%).



Following JD’s clinch into playoffs, their cinderella run through three potential tournament favorites in Team WE, Royal Never Give Up, and FunPlus Phoenix gave plenty of highlight worthy performances to rival TheShy. JD’s final victory over FPX featured Zoom’s Gangplank teleporting to the blue side Krugs brush for an Elder Dragon contest where he set up three key Powder Kegs (one to detonate a second placed near Lin “Lwx” Weixiang’s Kog’Maw, and a third triggered quickly enough to all-but-remove Kog’Maw from the map entirely) to win an otherwise unwinnable 5v5 for JDG.



The clip made it to the front page of Reddit, finally elevating Zoom as a contender in the eyes of the international audience. TheShy’s four-man Darkin Blade had an answer. It set the stage for the 2019 Spring LPL Grand Final to not only feel like the clash of the strongest carry top laners in the league, but the strongest carry top laners in the world.



But both of these moments also only came through because of the way JD and Invictus Gaming play League of Legends. Ning has the highest top-jungle proximity of any jungler in the league, and most duos that have attempted to match them in the 2v2 have failed. Teams have a better track record of success against Invictus Gaming targeting the bottom lane both in ban phase and in game with Tahm Kench and Braum pinched against Wang “Baolan” Liuyi and blue side bot dives prepped against the red side loving iG.



Even Topsports Gaming, a team with the most impressive rookie top laner of the season in Bai “369” Jiahao and accustomed to playing around the top side of the map, abandoned hope of matching iG in the top side 2v2. TOP picked Jayce into Ryze in Game 1 and then split map for bottom lane. The dive against Kai’Sa and Galio was a disappointing one-for-one trade while Ning dove top lane under turret for an extra lead for iG. A good Ryze can punish Jayce in the 1v1 in all stages of the game, and Jayce needs jungle attention to accelerate and feel useful. TOP hung 369 out to dry, and he went 0-3 in the first 10 minutes of the game with repeated pressure from Ning while attempts to affect the bottom side proved unsuccessful.



TOP’s only win against iG that series had Xiong “Moyu” Huidong and jungler Xiong “Xx” Yulong match TheShy and Ning’s 2v2 and Zhuo “Knight” Ding running over Rookie as Akali. iG made it clear that, in playoffs, would-be Champions have to go through TheShy or not at all.



For all the rose-colored remembrance of TheShy’s Darkin Blade knockup, iG had already secured two Infernal Dragons in Game Three of the semifinal. The play itself was inconsequential to the entire series. TheShy boasts prodigious talent, but much of iG’s success playing through him comes from the top-jungle 2v2. It isn’t just about besting TheShy, it’s about besting TheShy and Ning.



Neither TheShy nor Rookie won the MVP for the 2019 World Championship finals. Ning took it home for having a greater early game impact to make use of iG’s red side counterpick. Having a stronger jungle matchup also ended the matches early against G2. In Game 2, G2 didn’t just have Aatrox into Jayce, they had Aatrox and Gragas into Jayce and Taliyah, a 2v2 with no hope of winning early.



JD find their successes in much of the same manner. Mid laner Zeng “Yagao” Qi’s highest win rate champions in LPL (LeBlanc, Zoe, and Lissandra) get easy mid lane priority even in many situations where they’re picked blind. Yagao uses this pressure to lean top side and set up for Sung “Flawless” Yeongjun to get a clear gank or counterjungle and apply passive pressure to allow Zoom to best his opponents. JD took this approach in their encounter with iG in the regular season and managed to come out on top, albeit with burly Urgot vs Sion and Swain vs Sion matchups.



2018 World Championship Finals at the Incheon Munhak Stadium in Incheon, South Korea, on 3 November 2018.

If iG’s TheShy can only be shut down with a head-on encounter, JD are best equipped for the task. But the 2v2s (or 3v3s with Rookie and Yagao involved) won’t decide the series. Both teams have wobbly mid and late game flaws that could undo all the work done by Ning and Flawless.



iG have crumbled in team fights where JD have lately excelled. But JD have a poor concept of objective control. JD often lay all their wards down right before resetting, allowing them to be swept clean by their opponents and forcing scenarios where both Zoom and Yagao have to Teleport in off tempo to creatively turn a team fight they shouldn’t have had to take in the first place.



In the first game against FPX, JD’s Zuo “LvMao” Minghao placed his vision around Zoom’s bottom side split push when the team should have used Zoom’s ability to draw pressure to control the vision around Baron. He had to reset to refresh his wards, and FPX claimed the first Baron with two Mountain Dragons to their name.



If the games drag on, JD has a higher chance of winning, but iG hit hard early, and gaps in JD’s macro game can gift iG a 20 minute Baron without them having to take a sloppy team fight. But if JD’s top side gets ahead, iG cannot just run through their solo lanes to end early that swiftly. The likelihood they have to try to team fight increases, as does the likelihood of their loss.



But in the moment, both TheShy and Zoom have the magic of a clutch play that sticks in the memories of audiences. No matter the mistakes that either team makes, a Darkin Blade or a Powder Keg could well decide LPL’s MSI representative.



And better top always wins.

