The 11th World Championship in League of Legends takes place in 2021. A new generation of players now dominates the MOBA, but what has happened to the old veterans? Where do the champions of yesteryear stand today?
The first World Championship in LoL took place in 2011. It was held in June at Dreamhack and primarily featured teams from Europe and North America. It was the first and so far the only World Championship won by a Western team.
In 2012 and 2013, the Worlds were held in Los Angeles, America. There, teams from Asia dominated. Europe only managed to place 3rd or 4th.
But what has become of the players from back then? Where do the champions and runners-up from 2011 to 2013 stand today? That’s what we are going to examine.
These were the teams back then:
- 2011 Champion: Fnatic – with xPeke, Cyanide, Shushei, LamiaZealot, and Mellisan
- 2011 Runner-up: against All authority – with sOAZ, Linak, MoMa, YellOwStaR, and kujaa
- 2012 Champion: Taipei Assassins – with Stanley, Lilballz, Toyz, bebe, and MiSTakE
- 2012 Runner-up: Azubu Frost – with Shy, CloudTemplar, RapidStar, Woong, and MadLife
- 2013 Champion: SK Telecom T1 – with Impact, Bengi, Faker, Piglet, and Poohmandu
- 2013 Runner-up: Royal Club Huang Zu – with GoDlike, Lucky, Wh1t3zZ, Uzi, and Tabe
Two pros are still active
Who is still playing professionally? In 2013, Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok and his team SK Telecom T1 secured first place. At that time, he was 17 years old.
Today, Faker is probably the most well-known LoL player in the world. He has secured the world champion title three times. He was part of the golden generation of South Korean LoL players, which also includes Bengi, CloudTemplar, and MadLife, who are mentioned later in the article.
In 2019, Faker was even staged by Riot as a crying god wanting another title. However, in 2020, his team T1, which he has been loyal to since 2012, missed qualifying for the Worlds.
Faker is known for his strong plays in the mid lane. Over the years, there have been numerous montages, all of which are worth watching.
The second still active pro from back then is Jeong “Impact” Eon-young. He also played for SK Telecom 1 in 2013 and was already a year older than Faker.
He has since landed in America and takes on the role of top laner for Evil Geniuses. In March 2021, he will turn 26 and thus ranks among the oldest active LoL pros overall.
In America, several pros have landed who were no longer successful in other regions. The region lacks newcomers, which has also been criticized by one of the world champions from 2019.
These pros are still connected to LoL and eSports
xPeke as team founder: The first world champion in the history of League of Legends was the team Fnatic. While they are still active today, they have a completely different lineup.
One of the stars from back then was Enrique “xPeke” Cedeño Martínez, who played as a top laner in 2011. He gained attention for his relaxed attitude and often found himself in the spotlight.
One of the most defining moments of his career was an interview with Sjokz in 2014, which is still featured in highlight videos today:
From 2011 to 2014, he was part of Fnatic until he left the team and founded a completely new one called Origen. He was the founder and simultaneously played mid lane for the team.
He has since retired as a pro but remains the owner of the team, which was purchased by Astralis in 2019 and will also play under this name in the upcoming season.
Pro from T1 now trains the team: Bae “Bengi” Seong-woong has been a three-time world champion with the Korean team SK Telecom 1. He stayed loyal to the team until 2017 and then switched to Vici Gaming for a year.
At the end of 2017, he returned to SKT1 and took on the role of coach. He has since been replaced by Yang “Daeny” Dae-in, the former coach of DAMWON Gaming who refers to himself as the “God of LoL”.
Bengi now coaches the challenger team of T1.
YellOwStaR and sOAZ are still active in France: Two well-known players from the early years in LoL were Bora “YellOwStaR” Kim and Paul “sOAZ” Boyer. Both Frenchmen secured second place with against All authority in 2011.
YellOwStaR later switched to SK Gaming and Fnatic. Up until 2016, he participated in every World Championship and managed to place 3rd with Fnatic two more times.
After his active career, he was appointed Head of Esports at Paris Saint-Germain. However, the team missed qualifying for the LEC and the collaboration ended in the same year. He currently works for the French eSports organization LDLC OL, serving as both coach and support there.
sOAZ, on the other hand, joined Fnatic directly in 2012 and stayed there until 2018. After brief stints at Misfits and Immortals, he then landed as a coach at LDLC OL at the end of 2020.
CloudTemplar is now a caster: Lee “CloudTemplar” Hyun-woo was the 2012 runner-up with the Korean team Azubu Frost. In 2013, he switched sides and worked for the Korean league LCK. He also got married in 2014.
He now works as an official shoutcaster for Riot Korea.
PoohManDu is in his seventh coaching position: Lee “PoohManDu” Jeong-hyeon was also part of the championship team SK Telecom T1. Unlike Faker and Bengi, he dropped out of the player business in 2014.
He switched to the role of coach and already trained SK Telecom T1 during their world championship title in 2016 and worked in between for the teams Invictus Gaming, Misfits, and Vici.
Since December 2020, he is part of the coaching staff of DAMWON Gaming, the world champion of 2020.
MiSTakE starts his own streaming company: Chen “MiSTakE” Hui-Chung was part of the champion team Taipei Assassins in 2012. Today he owns the streaming company G Entertainment.
Additionally, he works as a shoutcaster for Garena, a platform for LoL in Southeast Asia. Here, players from Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines primarily meet.
This is what happened to RapidStar: Jung “RapidStar” Min-sung achieved the runner-up title with Azubu Frost in 2012. In 2016, he switched to coaching and trained, among others, SK Telecom T1 and the Chinese team EDward Gaming.
He is now in America, serving as the assistant coach for the team Cloud9, to which European pro Perkz switched this year for a transfer fee of $5 million.
Tabe – from pro to analyst: Wong “Tabe” Pak Kan was the runner-up in 2013 and retired immediately after. In February 2014, he received his first coaching position at Stand Point Gaming.
He now works as an analyst for Royal Never Give Up, the team that later formed from his former team Royal Club Huang Zu.
These pros are now streamers
After retiring from being a pro, many of the players opted to switch to the role of streamer. This was especially true for later generations. Of the first pros, only 3 remain active:
- The Taiwanese Chang “BeBe” Bo-Wei was part of Taipei Assassins, the world champions of 2012. He is now a professional streamer for the J-Team from Taiwan.
- Park “Shy” Sang-myeon reached the runner-up title with Azubu Frost in 2012. He retired from pro gaming in 2016. Since then, he has been an official streamer for Hanwha Life Esports.
- Hong “MadLife” Min-gi now streams for Hanwha Life Esports and was also part of Azubu Frost in 2012. Over the years, MadLife has become known for being an excellent support and could especially land some legendary “hooks” with Blitzcrank and Thresh, as this video shows:
These pros have completely withdrawn
In the first 3 years, there was no player who became a world champion or runner-up twice. Accordingly, there were 30 players we looked at for this list.
Of these 30, 14 have completely withdrawn from the League of Legends business or at least there is no information about their whereabouts.
Uzi ends career at 22: One of the youngest stories relates to Jian “Uzi” Zi-Hao, who in 2018 was still considered one of the best AD carries in the world. He already secured 2nd place with the team Royal Club Huang Zu in 2013. But in 2019 he announced his retirement.
He cited the demanding life as a pro as the reason. A doctor reportedly told him that he already had arms like a 50-year-old. His type 2 diabetes is also believed to have played a role. Since his retirement, he has had nothing to do with LoL.
Also, very recently, the pro Lau “Toyz” Wai Kin, also known as “Kurtis,” stepped back from the business. He was also part of Royal Club Huang Zu in 2013 and was the coach of the team G-Rex until November 2019. What he is doing now is not known.
The Germans prefer to study after retirement
Manuel “LaMiaZeaLoT” Mildenberger and Peter “Mellisan” Meisrimel both belonged to the championship team of Fnatic in 2011. After their success, however, they withdrew from LoL and continued their careers elsewhere:
- LaMiaZeaLoT retired from his active career in 2012, but played again in a Taiwanese team in 2013. He studied German, Mathematics, and English for teaching.
- Mellisan also last played for Fnatic in 2012 and then began studying Mathematics.
The third German player who became a runner-up in the first 3 years was Maik “MoMa” Wallus. He played for against All authorities. However, what became of him is unknown.
In League of Legends, Season 11 recently started. This year, the focus is particularly on the American LCS, which has made many changes to become more internationally competitive:
Europe & Asia are too good in LoL – That’s why America is changing its tournament format
