“The Chinese style just doesn’t work anymore.”

I’ve read this comment a lot on Reddit and social media. It usually refers to the perception of mindless aggression that has characterized commentary of Chinese teams at international events. One competing theory around recent LPL team struggles is simply that the game has moved on, and the rest of the world has developed strategies that LPL teams never did.

When I watch the LPL now, and even before IEM, I can already feel that the top teams are, internationally speaking, weaker than they've ever been. They’re less unified, and it's clear that the innovative spark that many of the region's greatest teams once had is lacking. While I tried to come up with a way to articulate this, Duncan “Thorin” Shields privately challenged me to list the top ten Chinese teams in League of Legends history.

The best way to talk about what some of the LPL teams are lacking now is to discuss what has made them strong in the past. Great Chinese teams were consistent. They were dominant within their region, and they developed a style that was their own, and not just the ubiquitous "Chinese style."

In compiling my list of the greatest Chinese League of Legends teams of all time, I considered the factors that were most important in not just separating the best teams from their peers, but in making them internationally competitive. These factors included a consistent period of dominance and a unique strategic identity. I also restricted myself to only counting teams that kept the same five players in the lineup.

In looking back, it’s important to highlight what made these teams stand out — and why, right now, China doesn’t seem to have a truly great team.

10. World Elite (November 23, 2011 — August 25, 2012)

Top: Wei “CaoMei” Handong

Jungle: Wu “YJTM” Songjun

Mid: Yu “Misaya” Jingxi

ADC: Gao “WeiXiao” Xuecheng

Support: Cui “if” Yu

Non-LPL Domestic victories: 3

LPL placements: N/A

International appearances:

Azubu The Champions Summer 2012, 5th-8th

IPL Face Off: San Francisco Showdown, 5th-6th

Since the iteration of Team WE that won Intel Extreme Master Guangzhou in October 5th of 2011, Team WE expressed a tendency to stall out the laning phase and scale. Over this period, Misaya began to develop his Twisted Fate and roams across the map. YJTM was a more active ganking jungler than his eventual replacement after his retirement. if preferred more stable supports to guard the laning phase.

This iteration of Team WE formed after Shu “YMS” Wen left the team, which means it doesn’t include their victory at Guangzhou. Yet for the persistence of this roster and their clashes against the then-rising, though not yet intimidating, Taipei Assassins, this WE roster deserves more recognition. With champion pool limitations, CLG EU crushed WE in the Champions quarterfinals and were further destabilized in the IPL Faceoff against less impressive opponents, Team Legion and Curse.

Earlier Team WE rosters are notable for the inclusion of Ji “Aaron” Xing, who began work with the team in early 2011. Team WE and Catastrophic Cruel Memory are memorable for focus and the slow development of strategy in the early stages of Chinese League of Legends.

9. LGD Gaming (December 10, 2014 — December 5, 2015)

Top: Choi “Acorn” Cheonju, Lee “Flame” Hojong

Jungle: Zhu “TBQ” Yongquan

Mid: Wei “We1less” Zhen

ADC: Gu “imp” Seungbin

Support: Chen “pyl” Bo

Non-LPL Domestic victories: 1

LPL placements:

2015 LPL Spring, 2nd

2015 LPL Summer, 1st

International appearances:

2015 World Championship, 9th – 11th

IEM San Jose Season X, 5th — 6th

Even with a truly abysmal international showing, LGD Gaming’s 2015 roster are mentioned here for their clever minion control and ability to use lane swaps in the Chinese context. LGD’s playstyle was often defined by imp farming a side wave while pyl roamed and created pressure with We1less and TBQ, calling for Teleports at optimal moments. In the mid-to-late game, they kept lanes pushed out to prevent catastrophes from backfiring.

These strategies allowed LGD Gaming to be competitive against one of the world’s top teams of 2015 Spring, EDward Gaming. The spring final extended to five games. Multiple players on the team have cited overconfidence and a bad state of mind as major factors leading to their flop at Worlds and recent downward spiral domestically.

Ultimately, placing LGD Gaming in the top ten Chinese teams of all time is difficult. Yet strong placement in the two most important domestic events of 2015, a strong record against EDward Gaming, and a defined identity make them unforgettable. Though, the team still wants for overall consistency and international prowess.

8. Oh My God (June 14, 2014 — December 10, 2014)

Top: Gao “Gogoing” Diping

Jungle: Yin “Loveling” Le

Mid: Yu “Cool” Jiajun

ADC: Guo “san” Junliang

Support: Hu “Cloud” Zhenwei

Non-LPL Domestic victories: 0

LPL placements:

2014 LPL Summer, 2nd

2014 LPL Regional Qualifier, 3rd

International appearances:

2014 World Championship, 3rd — 4th

The award for most frustrating Chinese team in the history of League of Legends goes to Oh My God’s 2014 Summer roster. As a result of internal bickering, this full roster only saw sparing play in the LPL, and when the losses hit, you could tell their morale would wane. When they were working as a cohesive unit, however, Oh My God were capable of surprising creativity.

Much of this roster’s power hinged upon Loveling’s style of jungling. After his second transition to the jungle role, Loveling’s best champion was arguably Jarvan IV. He used this champion and others to split terrain for enhanced pick team fighting. Oh My God benefited a lot from the disengage style of their support, Cloud, and the ability of their two powerful solo laners. When this team worked well, they could have easily bested EDward Gaming, the dominant force in China of 2014.

This almost never happened. Due to their own inability to function without intermittently benching Cloud for perhaps the worst player to ever play at an international event from a major region, Fang “Dada7” Hongri, Oh My God only appear on this list at all as the result of one series victory over NaJin White Shield. The memorable 3-0 featured some of Oh My God’s most creative Teleport plays and liberal use of split-pushing.

7. Star Horn Royal Club (June 1, 2014 — December 10, 2014)

Top: Jiang “Cola” Na

Jungle: Choi “inSec” Inseok

Mid: Lei “corn” Wen

ADC: Jian “Uzi” Zihao

Support: Yoon “Zero” Kyungsup

Non-LPL Domestic victories: 0

LPL placements:

2014 LPL Summer, 3rd

2014 LPL Regional Qualifier, 2nd

International appearances:

2014 World Championship, 2nd

It’s extremely difficult to place Royal Club rosters. Despite making the World Championship finals in 2013 and 2014, they lack domestic accomplishments, consistency and records of any kind against Korean teams outside their finals appearances. This Royal Club roster also lacks strategic variety.

Characterized by a willingness to dive first, ask questions later, Uzi and inSec worked in tandem as a pair often raring to enter risky fights. A lot of the success of this team came down to Zero’s ability to peel. The timing of these abilities required a lot of practice as a unit, which meant Star Horn Royal Club didn’t perform well in the LPL until Week 8 of the regular season.

Perhaps what can be said about Royal Club in both 2013 and 2014 is that, having faced a difficult opponent many times, they were able to identify and play against the opposing team’s strengths. When I spoke to OMG’s Cool on the Royal Club and OMG rivalry, he suggested that facing each other many times and knowing their opponents gave Royal confidence, even if they had lost before. With an open international circuit and this quality, it’s curious to imagine what kind of team Royal could have become.

6. Invictus Gaming (June 28, 2012 — September 8, 2013)

Top: Liu “PDD” Mou

Jungle: Chen “illusion” Xinlin

Mid: Liu “Zz1tai” Zhihao

ADC: Ge “Kid” Yan

Support: Sun “XiaoXiao” Yalong

Non-LPL Domestic victories: 3

LPL placements:

2013 LPL Spring, 3rd

Season 3 China Regional Finals, 3rd

2013 LPL Summer, 5th

International appearance:

CPL Shenyang 2012, 1st

Season 2 World Championship, 5th — 8th

World e-Sports Masters 2012, 2nd

International e-Culture Festival 2012

GIGABYTE StarsWar League, 3rd

GIGABYTE StarsWar League Season 2, 1st

For all my lofty notions about consistency and a defined identity, Invictus Gaming sit at Number 6 purely on the volume of their international accomplishments. Outside the events listed, Invictus Gaming were able to place first in various online events against some of the top Korean teams at the time, including Azubu Frost. Their loss at the Season 2 World Championship was to Moscow 5, a team many favored to win before the Taipei Assassins upset.

iG’s willingness to just fight all the time surprised many more tactical teams. Games they won were long and bloody. Games they lost were controlled by more calculated teams with fewer kills. Perhaps iG can be described as the first and only truly chaotic team, as they had success with going for broke.

The most interesting thing about Invictus Gaming is their ability to constantly battle with the most dominant team of the era, Team WE. As the strongest team with easy access to WE the clashes between the two squads made both stronger. WE’s teamfights improved as a result of iG’s unpredictability, and iG became more ruthless until WE were toppled in the famous GIGABYTE StarsWar League Season 2 final.

5. Royal Club Huang Zu (May 28, 2013 — October 13, 2013)

Top: Xiao “GoDlike” Wang

Jungle: Liu “Lucky” Junjie

Mid: Punwai “Wh1t3zZ” Lo

ADC: Jian “Uzi” Zihao

Support: Pakkan “Tabe” Wong

Non-LPL Domestic victories: 0

LPL placements:

2013 LPL Summer (Regular season only), 2nd (three-way tie)

Season 3 Regional Qualifier, 1st

International appearances:

Season 3 World Championship, 2nd

I like to imagine Oh My God in 2013 and 2014 as Royal Club’s rabid attack dogs, set out to eliminate difficult targets before Royal has to put them down. This iteration of Royal Club was more convincing in their success, as they beat Oh My God, potentially a top three or four team in the world at the time, in two series. Their implementation of the duo lane in the mid lane and innovation of Annie support showed a level of creativity that made Royal Club more than just a practiced gimmick.

Royal Club benefited from the scrim culture at Worlds, learning macro strategy from other teams at the event before they had to play their quarterfinal. This team exhibited steady growth before the instability of the organization and inconsistent pay forced the retirement of two key figures in the Chinese scene and the implosion of Royal Club before playoffs.

4. EDward Gaming (February 7th, 2014 — December 28th, 2014)

Top: Tong “koro1” Yang

Jungle: Ming “clearlove” Kai

Mid: Ceng “U” Long

ADC: Zhu “NaMei” Jiawen

Support: Feng “Fzzf” Zhuojun

Non-LPL Domestic victories: 5*

LPL placements:

2014 LPL Spring, 1st

2014 LPL Summer, 1st

2014 Regional Qualifier, 1st

International appearances:

2014 World Championship, 5th — 8th

*Except for the final of 2014 G League, this roster played the majority of the tournament. The final itself was won without U and NaMei, but it can also be counted in the total non-domestic victories count for 6 events instead of 5.

We’ve entered the echelons of the top four truly dominant teams in Chinese esports history. Even in events where EDward Gaming didn’t place first in 2014, they often took second, only coming up short of top two at the World Championship. This disappointing Worlds showing as well as a sense that EDward Gaming didn’t measure as strongly against some of Korea’s top teams in 2014 as perhaps Oh My God did in 2013 or EDward Gaming did in 2015 Spring, sits them in fourth.

Even after a depressing Worlds, EDG returned home to continue to dominate domestically. Before the introduction of Korean mid and AD carry players, EDG was still winning offseason events, albeit less decisively. EDG’s style relied on their ability to prolong the game for Baron fights, and their creative teamfight compositions kept them afloat. At times, clearlove would show another dimension and take over the game, allowing EDG to crush their playoffs.

One has to wonder whether EDG could have continued their dominant run without this roster change. The introduction of Koreans has caused some communication problems that plagued EDG out-of-game. Perhaps they would have done better at the World Championship in 2015, but not won the MidSeason Invitational.

3. Oh My God (December 12th, 2012 — February 19th, 2014)

Top: Gao “Gogoing” Diping

Jungle: Yin “Lovelin” Le / Ouyang “pomelo” Weiqi

Mid: Yu “Cool” Jiajun

ADC: Guo “san” Junliang

Support: Yin “Lovelin” Le / Ouyang “pomelo” Weiqi / Fang “comA” Hongri

Non-LPL Domestic victories: 5

LPL placements:

2013 LPL Spring, 1st

Season 3 Regional Qualifier, 2nd

2013 LPL Summer, 2nd

International appearances:

Season 3 World Championship, 5th — 8th

Based on overall versatility and success, Oh My God could be considered a top three or four team in the world (depending on how one rates NaJin Black Sword) at the time of the World Championship. As became a trend for them, however, they splintered against Royal Club Huang Zu in the World Championship quarterfinal and failed to advance to the final many expected against SK Telecom T1.

OMG developed their strategy both based upon observing Koreans in Champions at the time as well as an adamant belief that pushing turrets quickly was the optimal way to play. Their surprising ability to set up picks and coordinate dives shocked spectators and allowed them to split 1-1 with SKT in the group stage.

At his peak, Cool was one of the greatest mid laners to play League of Legends. His explosive power combined with Lovelin’s tactical approach made OMG the only team I placed in the top four without clearlove on it and the team that brought the concept of the pick strategy to the LPL.

2. EDward Gaming (January 30th, 2015 — Present)

Top: Tong “koro1” Yang

Jungle: Ming “clearlove” Kai

Mid: Heo “pawN” Wonseok

ADC: Kim “deft” Hyukkyu

Support: Tian “meiko” Ye

Non-LPL Domestic victories: 3

LPL placements:

2015 LPL Spring, 1st

2015 LPL Summer, 4th

2015 Regional Qualifier, 1st

International appearances:

2015 MidSeason Invitational, 1st

2015 World Championship, 5th — 8th

During the 2015 Spring regular season, I thought to myself that I hadn’t seen a Chinese team this strong since Team WE in late 2012. The addition of meiko added a spring to clearlove’s step. The team relied on clearlove and meiko to keep the map warded and gank often. koro1 operated as a self-sufficient top laner capable of capitalizing on vision. clearlove ganked bottom often. pawN served as a vicious distraction as the team controlled the map with a fast and dirty style.

Following the MidSeason Invitational, health problems and other logistics began to plague EDward Gaming. EDG rotated out their solo laners, affecting synergy long term. Then, at Worlds, they failed to adequately adapt. It’s only now that EDG are beginning to look a lot more like EDG after their impressive win over Invictus Gaming this past weekend.

Going into the World Championship, EDG were on the verge of surpassing WE. Unfortunately, yet another quarterfinals placing for clearlove meant it just wasn’t to be.

1. Team WE (September 10th, 2012 — December 16th, 2013)

Top: Wei “CaoMei” Handong

Jungle: Ming “clearlove” Kai

Mid: Yu “Misaya” Jingxi

ADC: Gao “WeiXiao” Xuecheng

Support: Feng “Fzzf” Zhuojun

Non-LPL Domestic victories: 6

LPL placements:

2013 LPL Spring, 3rd

2013 LPL Summer, 3rd

International appearances:

Season 2 World Championship, 5th — 8th

World e-Sports Masters 2012, 1st

International e-Culture Festival 2012, 1st

GIGABYTE StarsWar League, 1st

IGN Pro League 5, 1st

GIGABYTE StarsWar League, 2nd

Asian Indoor-Martial Arts Games 2013, 2nd

2013 World Cyber Games, 3rd



There’s a certain poetry to WE sandwiching the list of the top ten Chinese teams of all time. While Oh My God brought China the pick comp and pushing quickly to turrets, Team WE introduced the world to the slow push on a wide scale.

WE’s ability to consistently execute minion control-based strategies made them impossible to deal with completely, and their victory at IGN Pro League 5 was one of the most thorough victories in the history of the game. While EDG had an extremely close back-and-forth with SK Telecom T1 at their major international victory, WE demonstrated that they were on a level of their own. WeiXiao had far surpassed his AD carry peers, and WE's overall approach facilitated his style of play.

Allegedly, a big driving factor behind WE’s success was that clearlove’s and WeiXiao’s own combative natures propelled each other forward. Poor results and conflict in the team forced a split, and for a time in 2014, EDG and WE formed a major Chinese rivalry before WeiXiao’s retirement at the end of the year.

Honorable mentions and final words

An honorable mention on this list go to Positive Energy, a team that never competed internationally and only won an LPL after their star jungler retired. Catastrophic Cruel Memory’s roster prior to illuSion joining the team in 2011 also registers. That roster had the potential to win WCG 2011, which could have changed the landscape of Chinese LoL as we know it. As it stands, their acquisition by Wang Sicong changed the way teams get their money and developed the esports market in China.

Ultimately, what this list has demonstrated is that great Chinese teams, with the exception of Invictus Gaming, didn’t just wing it and impale themselves upon the enemy hoping for success. Great Chinese teams developed and honed a strategy unique to them that they could execute at a consistent level. This gave them dominance domestically and allowed them to compete with some of the best teams in the world abroad.

There is no one “Chinese style.” Teams with it in them to make a mark in the same way as EDward Gaming, Oh My God, and WE have will remember that.

Kelsey Moser is a staff writer for theScore esports. She still deeply regrets that OMG couldn't get it together in 2014. You can follow her on Twitter.