The 2022 League of Legends World Championship has concluded after a month and a half of competition for the legendary Summoner’s Cup, with DRX having their name inscribed on the trophy. It’s time to examine their similarities to prior Worlds champions now that they have made history.
The last seven Worlds winners have one defining quality in common: they all had South Korean mid laners, as spotted by esports journalist Tyler Erzberger on Twitter.
In 2016, there was Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok, who won with his team SK Telecom T1. 2017 was the year of Lee “Crown” Min-ho as Samsung Galaxy won. In 2018, South Korean mid laner Song “Rookie” Eui-jin, who moved to China and learned Mandarin to such proficiency he could communicate with his Invictus Gaming teammates, came out on top.
2019 was yet another year when a European team tried and failed to meet the greatness of the South Korean mid laners as G2’s Rasmus “Caps” Borregaard Winther simply couldn’t keep up with the then FunPlus Phonenix’s Kim “Doinb” Tae-sang. In 2021, Korean DAMWON and Chinese Suning met on the grand stage, with Heo “ShowMaker” Su’s Twisted Fate simply dominating Summoner’s Rift. Last year, EDward Gaming and Lee “Scout” Ye-chan had the honor of holding the Summoner’s Cup in their hands.
And lastly, this year, Kim “Zeka” Geon-woo, with his team DRX, beat the tournament favorite and secured his spot in history as the seventh South Korean mid laner to win Worlds since 2016.