The first ever Demacia Cup took place as the 2013 season came to a close. It was the last Grand Final between long time rivals and international heavyweights Invictus Gaming and Team WE after WE’s dramatic divide. The classic Invictus Gaming roster remained intact with the exception of a support change and Liu "PDD" Mou at the helm. Only Wei "CaoMei" Handong and Gao "WeiXiao" Xuecheng were left of WE to close the door on the first, and perhaps greatest, rivalry in Chinese League of Legends history. Invictus Gaming won the match 3-2, as the era of WE's international and domestic acclaim finally collapsed after repeated beatings from Oh My God throughout the season.

Since EDward Gaming’s inception, the Demacia Cup, an event that has run alongside the League of Legends Pro League and includes teams from both the LPL and the Secondary Pro League, has been humorously referred to as the "EDward Gaming Cup." After WE’s loss, EDG went on to win every single Demacia Cup event that followed, cementing their dynasty with multiple rosters that have all featured Ming "Clearlove" Kai. Now, EDG's star AD carry Kim "Deft" Hyukkyu has chosen the 2016 edition of the Demacia Cup to be his last tournament. After two full years, Deft's eventual departure from the team will signal the beginning of a new era and a pessimistic competitive outlook for both EDG and the LPL as a whole.

Even at the first Demacia Cup tournament, the shadow of EDward Gaming’s looming rise was present. WE’s remade roster came in the wake of the team’s split down the middle, and the absence of Clearlove and Feng "Fzzf" Zhuojun was very much felt. Though 2014 EDward Gaming had the same number of IPL 5 WE members as 2014 WE (two each), EDward Gaming were rejected by the fan community and smeared as traitors when Clearlove, Fzzf and Coach Ji "Aaron" Xing left for greener pastures and more opportunity. When they returned to the Demacia Cup stage a year later with the first iteration of EDG's roster, they still found themselves rejected from the community.

Despite claiming victory in both the League of Legends Pro League playoffs and nearly every offseason tournament final, EDward Gaming attended the second ever Demacia Cup at the end of 2014 after falling in the World Championship quarterfinal. They won a close finals series against WE after WeiXiao and CaoMei both officially retired, and promptly walked off stage before the first annual Demacia Cup Awards were doled out. At that award ceremony, EDward Gaming didn’t win a single prize.

EDward Gaming’s reputation immediately started to improve with a roster overhaul, however. Following Fzzf’s retirement, Zhu "NaMei" Jiawen also expressed private interest in retirement. EDward Gaming continued the wave of Korean import fever with the acquisition of Korean AD carry phenomenon Kim "Deft" Hyukkyu and World Championship mid laner Heo "pawN" Wonseok.

Deft’s first tournament with EDward Gaming was an overwhelmingly decisive 3-0 win against rising rookie Team King in G League, where the bottom lane struggled more than the rest of the map. Then, EDward Gaming’s current starting top laner, Chen "Mouse" Yuhao played in the bottom lane alongside Deft, having recently transitioned from the mid lane role.

In an interview immediately following EDward Gaming’s victory, Deft had one of his first interactions with Chinese media. He told CGA that "Clearlove is stronger than DanDy and Spirit" as a jungler. Over time, more interviews revealed that Clearlove was a major reason Deft and pawN had chosen to join EDward Gaming over other Chinese teams, as Clearlove was well-regarded in Korean solo queue as a "free win" if he landed on your team.

EDward Gaming at G League

Deft, who had a reputation of seeking protection from his teammates and playing emotionally, was said to have developed a bond with Clearlove as a player that was three years his senior. Ex-teammate Choi "Acorn" Cheonju famously replied to Deft’s "Do you miss Deft?" with "no, Deft like Clearlove."

Clearlove and Deft’s synergy developed quickly, and it was further helped by the addition of more aggressive support Tian "meiko" Ye, who joined the team only two weeks into the 2015 LPL Spring Split. Deft and Clearlove, both traditionally known as slow starters and heavy farmers in the early game, started planning much more aggressive early ganks and 3v2 or 3v3s to get Deft ahead while Tong "Koro1" Yang and pawN played solo lanes self-sufficiently.

This is a formula EDward Gaming stuck with, and it gave them impressive results in the first Demacia Cup of the 2015 spring season as they went undefeated throughout the tournament. They swept through LSPL team Kx.Happy, Masters3, Team WE and Invictus Gaming in their climb to take their second Demacia Cup title. As a spectator, I remember thinking that I hadn’t seen a Chinese team look so powerful since WE won the IGN Pro League 5.

Despite the impressive showing, word of pawN’s intermittent back pains started to emerge during the tournament's quarterfinal match. Mouse appeared on stage for EDward Gaming’s opening ceremony instead of pawN, but pawN himself wanted to play.

pawN missed out on the opening of the 2015 LPL Spring quarterfinal as well when EDward Gaming first met resistance with their new roster. What was predicted to be a clean 3-0 against Team WE turned into a dramatic 3-2 with pawN’s famous return in the final game over Ceng "U" Long, declaring that "EDG need me" and allegedly demanding to be taken to the LPL venue from his hospital bed.

EDG would carry this momentum to China’s first major international tournament win since IPL 5 at the 2015 Mid-Season Invitational. Deft’s Jinx practically won two of EDward Gaming’s matches in their final series against SK Telecom T1 that culminated in Lee "Faker" Sanghyeok’s first ever competitive loss on Leblanc.

The story of EDG’s first competitive split with Deft is one of the most surreal and perfect tales in League of Legends esports. A near undefeated spring dotted with ramping difficulty, players struggling against their own health problems for the sake of glory, and an important international victory over a Korean dynasty in the rebuilding stage.

EDward Gaming at 2015 MSI

But unlike most fairytales, EDward Gaming’s story kept going after "Happily Ever After." Due to health concerns for both solo laners as well as muffled conflict between Koro1 and the organization, the team began to alter the roster intermittently, giving players like Shek "AmazingJ" Wai Ho and Kang "BaeMe" Yanghyun play time. EDward Gaming dropped more games in the summer season, and their second Demacia Cup run was no exception.

Most disturbingly, EDward Gaming dropped a match in the Round of 16 to WE Future as Xu "PentaQ" Mingshu’s phenomenal play gave him a deathless game against EDward Gaming’s star AD carry. The strain on the synergy between Deft and Clearlove as well as the drop in performance from both players became obvious.

Rumors of more internal struggles followed EDward Gaming despite another 3-0 final victory in Demacia Cup Summer, all the way to the 2015 World Championship. They again lost in the quarterfinals in what was perhaps the organization’s most humiliating series loss at an international event: a 3-0 sweep at the hands of Europe's Fnatic.

That’s when the countdown began. EDward Gaming were no longer the miracle team propelled forward by jungle and AD carry synergy. As the team looked for more substitute options to replace pawN, Deft allegedly wrestled with his place in the LPL.

According to ex-EDward Gaming manager and co-founder Huang "San Shao" Cheng, Deft privately pleaded with him in tears to return to Korea following EDG’s devastating loss at the World Championship. Though Deft agreed that he wouldn’t be able to make as much money if he played for a Korean team, he expressed that he still had the deep desire to win the World Championship.

In San Shao's retelling of their conversation, Deft only agreed to stay after the manager said to him, "Let’s work hard together. This team of ours definitely can get a world championship title."

While some may have thought Deft naïve to agree to these conditions after the LPL’s deplorable World Championship run, the MSI result also spoke volumes. EDward Gaming has, for a long time, been the team in the LPL most committed to international success. Despite only making the quarterfinals for two years running, their commitment to achieve seems most genuine of any of the Chinese teams, and their domestic results back it up.

EDward Gaming at 2015 World Championship

But it was clear that if they failed again, 2016 would be the last year Deft would try for China.

EDward Gaming attended the Demacia Cup Grand Final, as they were invited alongside three other teams that placed toward the top of the spring and summer tournaments. They won the only offseason tournament they have attended since their humiliating loss in NEST at the hands of Energy Pacemaker All. This time, they claimed almost every award with the exception of "Most Improved Team," "Best Top Laner" and "Best AD Carry."

In 2016, the Demacia Cup format was severely reduced. The bulk of the event took place only in one weekend in Suzhou during the Summer Split. Only four LSPL teams were invited to the event to join the 12 LPL teams, and the preliminaries broke into a Double Round Robin in four groups instead of an extended Best of 5 Round of 32 bracket stage. Games were played through the quarterfinal.

EDward Gaming had their most impressive Demacia Cup showing since 2015 Spring. They have yet to drop a single game in either the Group Stage or quarterfinal. Clearlove’s personality came through humorously in interviews as he told the event's host that he wanted to be asked about what was good to eat in Suzhou and said that he ran away from fights strategically rather than to preserve his KDA.

If EDward Gaming’s devastation through LPL and Demacia Cup this summer was any indication, their World Championship run should have been like their 2015 MSI appearance. It wasn’t.

For the first year since their formation, EDward Gaming entered a group in which they were the favorites to escape in first place. Rather than face the heavily favored Samsung White or the strongest Korean team SK Telecom T1 as soon as the event commenced, their toughest competition was pegged as second seed European team, H2K-Gaming.

But before they even faced H2K, EDward Gaming dropped their first match to Brazilian Wildcard team INTZ e-Sports. Support Cho "Mata" Sehyeong of fellow Chinese team Royal Never Give Up criticized EDG for their lack of preparation against INTZ when they dropped to the opposing team’s top camp strategy. EDG resolved not to drop any additional games.

Yet that one loss was enough, as a single game loss to H2K in Week 2 forced a tie-breaker for first seed out of the group. H2K banned roaming supports and restricted meiko to his lane, limiting Clearlove’s effectiveness on the map.

Deft’s resurgence as a top AD carry came in 2016 in part because of strong synergy with one of his teammates in particular. meiko’s roams and ability to control the flow of minions in the lane bridged the gap between Deft and Clearlove that had seemed to forge over time. meiko and Deft controlled the lane, meiko moved to invade, and Clearlove took action off meiko’s vision.

EDward Gaming’s ability to control the lane broke down in the 2v2-focused meta, especially with enemy bottom lanes challenging their wave control — something that didn’t happen frequently in the LPL. Their bottom lane couldn’t get far enough ahead to carry the game, and EDward Gaming lost not only their second game against H2K, but the tie-breaker match as well which saw them drop to second place in their group for the third consecutive year.

Following EDward Gaming’s quarterfinal defeat to the ROX Tigers, Deft declared that he would be pursuing his options. Given his previous concerns, it seemed that EDward Gaming would have to perform a hail marry to keep him on the roster.

Whatever attempts they may have made, it didn’t work. Deft and pawN both announced their departure from the organization shortly after EDward Gaming returned to China in disgrace. pawN told fans he would leave immediately, but Deft promised to stay for one more event: the Demacia Cup semifinal and Grand Final.

"I don’t think I have a lot of time in which I can continue to perform well," Deft said. "I wish to return to Korea where I have a higher chance of winning Worlds."

Choosing Demacia Cup as his final tournament with the organization for which he has played the past two years is not insignificant. It’s the only event at which the squad has never faltered or withdrawn and will also pit Deft against his greatest Chinese rival, Jian "Uzi" Zihao, at the start of the semifinal. Even if Uzi should happen to win the award for best AD carry of 2016, the battle is sure to be a cathartic one.

But losing Deft doesn’t just raise questions as to how EDward Gaming will face their third major roster rebuild, but what this means for the LPL as a whole. Even in 2015 spring season when the LPL's import appetite yielded its best results, and Chinese teams reported that the increased practice ethic of their Korean imports had a positive impact on their Chinese players, commentators questioned the motivation of most popular Korean players to join Chinese teams.

After two years of World Championship results that failed to impress and losing games to not just Korean giants but European and North American teams as well, the drive for Korean imports to obtain results on their respective Chinese teams is even more suspect. As time goes by, more emphasis is put on marketing their brand, and streaming platforms continue to raise the stakes. Simply put, it’s even hard to justify the notion that someone like Deft, who makes international success a priority, will join a team outside Korea.

That doesn’t mean, despite speculation that the "reverse exodus" has begun, that the Korean import appetite in China will decline. Rumors that Invictus Gaming is looking for a new Korean jungler, either Han "Peanut" Wangho or Go "Score" Dongbin, have begun circulating. pawN’s health struggles, and Deft’s drive make their cases relatively unique. Any Koreans that return to LCK teams are likely to be replaced with a new wave of imports.

For a team like EDward Gaming who have made it clear that they aspire to do well internationally and eventually win the World Championship, a team that’s consistent effort comes through in their domestic record, Deft’s departure spells a new challenge. Poor domestic scouting in the past two years indicates that it's very likely many LPL teams have lost faith in the Chinese talent available, and at the start of 2016, Clearlove speculated he may have two years before he feels obligated to retire. They’ll want to go all-in on what could be the last attempt at the Summoner’s Cup for the region’s most decorated veteran.

Though EDG have always ruled the Demacia Cup (and its significance to the organization is not lost with Deft declaring it his final event), the semifinal against Royal Never Give Up won’t be one of catharsis, but one that broaches new questions. The Demacia Cup's first season ended with the last matchup between two of the region's most internationally successful giants, and EDward Gaming has had mixed results against foreign teams since they've taken up the domestic reigns.

Where does EDward Gaming and the rest of the LoL Pro League go from here? With Deft losing faith in the ability of the most accomplished and stable organization in the LPL ever winning a World Championship, the prognosis is more glitz and glam and a continued descent into competitive mediocrity.

Kelsey Moser is a staff writer for theScore esports. You can follow her on Twitter.