There are few if any things more exciting in League of Legends than base races. Those are the moments when clean macro and superior teamfighting go out the window and chaos reigns. Someone makes a crazy call, and everyone just goes with the flow, holds their breath and hopes for the best.

Base races don’t happen very often in League of Legends, but when they do, everyone goes crazy. With higher stakes and a bigger stage, the excitement and the hype can go through the roof.

Here is our list of the most nailbiting and nervewracking base races in League of Legends history.

Honorable Mentions

Copenhagen Wolves secured their spot in the 2014 EU LCS Summer split by defeating Team Denial in the EU LCS summer promotion tournament final. Back then, CW had some legendary players like FORG1VEN, Amazing and YoungBuck and they really prepared a show with the game 4 base race.

During week 10 of 2013 North American LCS, Team Vulcun squared off against Team Dignitas. After almost 40 minutes, the teams decided it would be best to sort the game out via base race with VUL pushing top and DIG pushing mid.



10. FLY Quest vs. 100 Thieves

100T had 8k gold lead over Fly Quest, and instead of pushing their lead into objectives and shutting the game slowly, they decided that a coin-toss base race was a good idea. They teleported in the base, but FLY took the chance and pushed mid…



9. CLG vs. Gambit

Game 2 of 2014 IEM Cologne final saw a gentleman’s agreement between CLG and Gambit. CLG pushed bot and Gambit pushed mid. Soon, CLG realized it is hard to outpush a Jax and Tri-Force Corki, but it was too late, and Gambit took a 2-0 lead to eventually take the title 3-1.



8. Splyce vs. Unicorns of Love

In the eighth spot of the best base races in League of Legends history, we go back to the first week of 2018 EU LCS spring split. After a 67-minute brawl between the teams and a whopping 846 cs on Exileh’s Ryze, teams finally decided to end the game in a very unlikely way…



7. CLG vs. SK Gaming

2012 World Championship was full of epic moments, and this is most certainly one of them. After low-kills 36 minutes of gameplay, Doublelift’s Graves was pushing bot with two teammates dead while SK Gaming, led by today’s G2 owner, ocelote, went for a play to end the game through mid lane. The ending was insane, that’s for sure.



6. Team MRN vs. Cloud 9

Before C9 became one of the best North American teams ever to exist, they failed to qualify for the first LCS split in 2013. Hai was a jungler back then, and the roster itself looked very different. Hai would eventually become one of the best shotcallers in League history, but the call to base race against Anivia wasn’t one of his best.



5. Fnatic vs. G2

The derby between the biggest rivals in the EU, G2 and Fnatic, is always very exciting to watch. However, their match during week 9 of the 2019 summer split was even crazier. With both teams trying to backdoor at the same time, everyone was holding their breath during this insane ending.



4. Gen.G vs. Griffin

The new exciting team in the LCK took on the reigning World champions, Gen.G, during the 2018 Summer split. After a number of explosive teamfights, the teams were less than 1000 gold apart at 54 minutes. Furthermore, the ending was all a fan can hope for after a game like this.



3. CLG vs. TSM

Another CLG appearance on this list is definitely the craziest. Base race between two teams is quite rare, but base race between a team and minions is one in a million. That is exactly what happened during TSM and CLG’s match back in 2013 MLG Anaheim.



2. KT Rolster vs. Invictus Gaming

One of the best moments of Worlds history happened during 2018 quarterfinals. And what makes it even better is Riot’s shoutcaster CaptainFlowers taking this memorable moment to another level. Not much else to say about this moment. Just sit back and enjoy.

Also, if you didn’t see it before, make sure to check out the Caster Cam during this play, because their reactions are just priceless.



1. Fnatic vs. SK Gaming

We all know xPeke’s Kassadin play is the best backdoor ever, and arguably the most iconic play in the League of Legends history. However, since SK Gaming was pushing Fnatic’s base at the same time he was hitting their Nexus, it also classifies as a base race.

Even though it wasn’t an easy decision between 1st and 2nd place, xPeke took the crown in our eyes as the most iconic base race in League of Legends history.



Which of these base races is your favorite?

Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.

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