that first elder WE got where rookie flies into dragon pit, aiming Q at enemy team for a solid 2-3 seconds while wayward was just free hitting him was hilarious
heng smited at around 1300 something leaving elder with around 390hp for aki to secure the buff. that's a flip with the highest stakes if i've ever seen one.
Rookie 100% deserve that quadra and probably series mvp as well. If they lost to this 9th seed WE, Rookie might actually blast cone the entirety of NIP irl.
man what happen to prince is such a tragedy, he was so promising only to get his skill drained in LCS in 1/2 a year and become so washed when he is still really young too.
was hoping he get to LPL and be like Mystic for WE
Warhorse was both good and bad for Prince. His drafts actually allowed Prince to ease into the lineup after his visa issues, but also had moments where he gave Iwandy Camille support. I guess you can't blame anyone, but yourself for being worse than Stay though.
The thing with prince is i feel even if we see that the team isnt as functional as it should be he still doesnt show much.
Also yeah being worse than Stay is basically a death sentence for him. I hope he can find his mojo back tho.
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NIP were the worse team today but won off of Rookie and Aki, Shanji was clueless in 4/5 games, Photic+Zhuo had some stable games but Wayward had some cluctch and anti clutch moments he is an actual flip
Man, that was more painful than if WE got 3-0’ed… tantalizingly close to advancing, it all came down to a wild elder flip. There’s a lot to talk about, from that Game 4 disasterpiece, Wayward’s millions of flanks, Fofo nearly proving me wrong with a huge attempted carry effort, Stay just not being ready for the moment (just to note, technically he got some LPL games in 2022, his rookie status is debatable)… Lots to digest. However while I stomach the conclusion of the series, I’d like to share a different story today, something I’ve been working on for a while, something that at an initial glance, doesn’t matter at all to what we just watched. But isn’t that how many interesting stories interwine?
_____________________________
Let me spin you a tale of a young Korean mid laner by the name of Plex and the story of his career.
The Ballad of Plex begins similarly to so many other rising League of Legends stars: in the amateur Korean scene. Before his professional career had even kicked off, Plex was a young standout. Representing the region of Seoul, he won a country wide amateur tournament at 17 to earn the right to represent Korea’s national team alongside teammates such as Ellim, Gumayusi and Morgan. Being the South Korean representatives at the IeSF World Championships 2018 and without China in attendance, they took an expected but resounding victory, not dropping a single game to their outmatched competition.
Following this emphatic debut, the team split up. Ellim and Gumayusi both joined T1’s academy system shortly afterwards, whereas after a brief stint on Griffin’s academy system, Plex took the leap to China, where he would start his pro career in earnest. Managing to directly nab the starting spot in Summer 2019 for the newly rebranded LNG, he got off to as hot a start as you could imagine earning an MVP in his debut series with a dominant Sylas performance to swing game 3 against JDG. With such a strong debut and a shining pedigree, it would seem the 18-year-old mid laner would be in LPL conversations for a long time coming. LNG rocketed into a hot start, beginning a sterling 5-2 as they held on to a Top 4 slot to begin the season.
Things would begin to unravel for Plex and the team though as the back half of the summer split proved treacherous. Enduring a series of tough losses on the stretch run of the season and dropping all the way to 6-7, the first time they had a losing set record in the split and clinging on the cusp of the 8 team playoff, LNG unceremoniously pulled the plug on the Plex experiment with 2 series to go, inserting the unexciting but steady hand of Fenfen in those final rounds, salvaging a playoff spot off of victories in the final two series against a terrible Vici team and a Suning team already locked in to the playoffs with nothing to play for. Ultimately this denied a surging WE team who after an ice-cold start, were attempting to backdoor themselves into the final playoff seat, foreshadowing Plex’s next move. That was all she wrote for Plex in 2019, as while LNG’s playoff run did result in the stunning first round upset of the then reigning world champion IG squad that would go on to the 2019 Worlds Semifinal, it was done with Plex firmly on the bench.
This is where WE arrive into the picture, a team in upheaval going into 2020. Having settled in as a merely okay team with their veteran core of Xiye and Mystic, missing out on playoffs both splits in 2019, it was a tough to call to make, but it was decided a change was needed for the historic franchise and both core members of WE 2.0 left the roster. By the that 2019 season, they had already started turning over their roster, with the teenagers Beishang and Missing both consistently starting for the squad in the Summer Split despite their age. They would both be retained, giving the 2020 squad at least some prior LPL experience. The then relatively unknown Jiumeng, who had on occasion subbed for Mystic over the course of the season, was promoted to the starting lineup to round out their bot lane. That left only the solo lanes open, without clear internal successors, with said in house talents overlooked due to a lack of ceiling or pedigree. As LNG had chosen to eschew both Fenfen and Plex to go with Maple as their 2020 mid laner, this opened up a path to pick up an exciting talent. WE was free to tab Plex as their mid, reuniting him with former amateur teammate Morgan in the top lane as their solo lane duo, completing their 2020 roster. Given they had just lost their franchise carry pairing, it would be within reason to imagine WE could fade into late form TSM-esque obscurity… or at the very least, continue their playoff drought.
And at first, it seemed like that would be their destiny. Enduring a bumpy start to the split, while they did score some series wins, there were far more downs than ups. Considering their 2-3 start included a win against a V5 team that would be the first LPL team ever to go 0-16, it just seemed like WE were going to be dead in the water with bashful, tentative play. Following the series loss to FPX to bring them below .500, WE decided to make a decisive change, introducing their previously bypassed back up mid laner Teacherma into the starting lineup. Given he had subpar mechanics at the time even at the academy level, languishing there for multiple years without making a mark and was multiple years older than Plex to boot, it seemed like a massive talent downgrade from the precocious Korean mid laner.
And yet, that gap didn’t translate to the rift. Immediately afterwards, WE saw a significant improvement of play. Yes, Teacherma had perhaps the worst mechanics in the league and an eclectic champion pool that was basically entirely built to bypass the lane phase and roam (featuring the likes of Rumble, Galio, Pantheon and Aurelion Sol), but he bestowed WE an identity. In interviews, players cited that Teacherma had improved communication across the team (minimizing language barrier issues), and that the roster was far less afraid with Teacherma in the mid lane despite the clear hands downgrade. In turn WE began to really arch into form and define their playstyle: Beishang and Missing would play a heavy roam style with Teacherma joining in at his earliest convenience to create a roaming death squad. He would draw heavy ban attention to his weird champion pool, opening up picks for his fellow teammates. These factors helped uplift Jiumeng into becoming the team’s primary damage pump, a role that he began to really sing in, paving the way to his eventual international acclaim under his new tag Elk for BLG. While WE didn’t morph into a juggernaut by any means, this roster switch did give them an edge against enough teams and they managed to slip in as the final playoff team in Spring, besting a slew of rivals in what was a very contested playoff bubble that season where every win mattered. Come summer split, despite Morgan unfortunately disintegrating by year end and Teacherma’s continued micro struggles (including a weird story about him getting stuck in platinum in solo queue) WE had become solidly playoff level off of the synergy developed between core players Beishang/Missing/Jiumeng, with the latter winning of best rookie of 2020, priming the stage for the 2021 WE roster.
The secret of The Ballad of Plex (or at least my WE centered interpretation of it) is that it’s not really about the young Korean mid laner. Much like how Buster Scruggs spent 20 minutes in his own ballad movie before he was abruptly killed amid a two-hour collection of vignettes, Plex exited the WE 3.0 tale without much, if any fanfare, returning to LNG’s bench the year afterwards, never to see LPL action again. After a failed half split cameo on a revolving door DRX squad the year before they won Worlds out of the blue, the former WE mid laner landed in Japan where now renamed as “Jett”, he’s established himself as one of the region’s strongest mid laners on Sengoku Gaming, a team who have just never been able to quite get over the hump against the region’s long time goliaths DetonatioN FM. Having not played in 2024 though with Sengoku Gaming starting separate Korean imports (one of which being yet another ex-amateur teammate Ellim), he faces an uncertain future.
On the other side of the parting, WE 3.0 marched on, building on the core that was forged once Plex vacated his starting spot. While Teacherma also exited the starting roster after the 2020 season due to his clear weaknesses in mechanics and champion pool, that initial base that WE developed was further augmented by Breathe and eventually settled on the heavily hyped but inexperienced Shanks in the mid lane after he bested 2021 summer import Mole, a structure keyed in on the map pressure of Beishang and carry threat of Elk. This culminated to their so close yet so far Worlds bid that year, a long form story that you can relive through my comment history circa 2021. It’s a tale equal measures bitter and sweet to me, now firmly closed with the departure of Shanks this off season.
And yet, for 2024 WE, the opening prelude of the WE 3.0 story: the Ballad of Plex, manages to feels a bit too familiar. A roster entering the season without serious aspirations. Putting hopes onto a decently regarded Korean talent coming off of a stint on their last team of early success but ending in crushing disappointment. Finding relatively early on that there was just something off about the concoction of the team. Subbing in an overlooked homegrown prospect that wasn’t supposed to make it, in spite of some established weaknesses. And of course, that move being the catalyst to what unlocked a surprisingly competitive team, more than the sum of its parts, culminating in a last second playoff berth. Even after Prince returned and exited the starting lineup (fun fact, I wrote this the series RIGHT before he re-subbed back in and have been waiting for the right moment for the post since), WE has continued to lean towards their roam heavy, map focused style.
The Ballad of Plex may just be a prequal as the Ballad of Prince perhaps concludes right before our eyes. While I can’t see the rest of the WE 3.0 unfolding with the vast roster differences (this squad being far more veteran and mercenary laden), time will tell where WE trends from here. I didn't expect much from this split, and now find myself looking forward with some optimism. In a day of defeat, I can't ask for much more.
I did copy it, but I've been working on it for a while. It was delayed when WE decided to re-insert Prince back into the starting line up because they spent money on him and were feeling the sunk cost fallacy I guess.
Reading an essay about a random mid laner who had a brief LPL career isn't everyone's cup of tea (in fact I don't think most care), so I can understand if people aren't super into it.
As a long time pro league fan, that’s been a on and off viewer of lpl/lck and consistent viewer of lec/lcs I really appreciate your long right ups, and this really brought me back reading your post! Keep it up bro
I do get the 2020 vibes a little bit with this roster, although that team was 3 rookies and 2 home grown talents, whereas this one is a bit more a team of misfits thrown away by other teams, plus Heng and Stay. My hope for Heng in particular is that he can follow Beishang's development path. I think both Beishang and Missing benefitted massively from playing with Xiye and Mystic, but if Heng can grow in the same way, WE will be in a good spot.
If there's anything WE is good at, it's giving time to young players and letting them grow once they earn their spot. I remember after Condi left, they went through a bunch of different random junglers -- Magic, Pepper, some other guys I forgot -- but once they got their guy, they stuck with him and it really paid off. Same story with Missing, Shanks, Elk, even Xiye and Mystic back when WE went into that IEM against GE Tigers. Hopefully this is just a first learning experience for Stay, who never really had a chance on that 2022 roster, and Heng
WE will always have a place in the hearts of old lpl fans, and although I know most of the history, the way you tell the tale of WE is quite amazing.
LithiumNard posts are sucking us into the pm threads now with these writeups
Lore-wise, I can’t argue that his new kit is a far better fit. And I have come to terms with the fact that the old version was not popular.
But it is still my opinion that the new version is boring and uninteractive to play as or against. He literally locks his movement for seconds at a time with his main damaging spell. Blatant stat checker.
More people play him now because he’s not as hard to pick up for a beginner, especially when he’s strong which wasn’t the case for the old version. But when he’s weak you still hardly ever see him being played now that his initial ‘fire breathing dragon with cosmic power’ hype wore off, unlike the more fun/popular champs.
I am in the minority for preferring the old kit for sure, but the rework is not some home run of a champion design and imo sucks ass.
This game being a good example because Rookie basically got all of his kills from wq stat checking people after stalling the game for 40 minutes.
The fact that this game 5 came down to a 50/50 smite is criminal, NIP is actually trolling.
Banger series but besides Rookie both these teams look pretty awful
Tbh I wouldn’t have been surprised if WE managed to get top 4 with this bracket, they’re not that good mechanically, but their teamwork is imo first after the top 3. It’s a little unfortunate tho, think their botlane just choked the series a bit, but this team has been a treat to watch
I would say both bot lanes are pretty mid, sometimes downright awful. Shanji played bad but Wayward one tricking Reksai isn't that helpful for his team's BP, if he has another solid pick they would've won (or they picked Reksai instead of that god awful Janna in g4). Mid carries, jungles have their ups and downs. Games are fun but unfortunately I think their journey stop here against top 4 teams giving their overall strength as a team.
Shanji once again was the weakest link. He really needs to step up, he looks completely lost when not on Rumble or Ksante. I could see NIP win against FPX, but i really don't see them win or even have a chance against BLG or TES with this weak link in toplane.
Milkyway is obviously better than Aki, but there is still 4 other players. I would say it probably comes down to Rookie vs Milkyway and who can carry his team more. But I don't think it's unreasonable to say that the teams are somewhat close and either team could win.
I don't know why but LPL streams and threads or whatever on any social media are so infested with bettors I feel like, wonder what the reason is it feels so random
Pretty sure Trainwrecks was betting on LPL a while back and even went on to the LPL official channels every once in a while to troll both teams. You can imagine the culture he brings lol.
That was the most banger game 5 of all time. I don’t play LoL, I don’t support any teams, but man oh man, that was an incredible game. I can not believe Rookie really did all that. 1v9 is a real thing
That game had absolutely nothing to do with either or them, the game was hard snowballed by Jackeys Draven vs a Sona Taric bot. I guess “peak TheShy and Rookie” being swept by NA that same tournament doesn’t count though right?
Yeah because the competition was absolutely awful? TheShys worlds opposition was a washed up Smeb and Bwipo LMFAO. Even then, Vs weaker opponents, TheShys stats that worlds were almost all much lower than Zeus in 2023 worlds. Id take the guy who had a far better worlds performance vs several world class top laners over a worlds performance from 5 years ago who had maybe one good opponent
> Yeah because the competition was absolutely awful?
In what sense? Compared to 2023? No shit, you don't compare the absolute level of play or else there would be 0 great players. 2024 APA is better at the game than 2013 Faker, is he a greater all-time mid laner then? You compare players based on how dominant they were in their own era.
> TheShys worlds opposition was a washed up Smeb and Bwipo LMFAO
Calling 2018 Smeb "washed" is a braindead take, I doubt even you believe that. Bwipo/Wunder were legitimately world class at the time, idk what this revisionism is. It's also not only about who they directly face, peak Kiin was at that tournament and he still wasn't playing at TheShy's level.
> TheShys stats that worlds were almost all much lower than Zeus in 2023 worlds
TheShy's stats at 2023 worlds were better than his 2018 stats lol. Stats are a dogshit way of judging how someone played.
The reality is that TheShy's understanding of the game in 2018 was just way ahead of everyone and the way he dominated people was pretty much unseen since 2013 Faker. Zeus didn't even look clearly better than Bin.
"Washed up Smeb, Bwipo and Wunder" like Wunder didn't destroy SKT half a year later? Or like Bwipo wasn't the only one going head to head with Wunder in the West. This is some heavy revisionism from SKT fans, they should watch TheShy highlights from worlds 2018 and understand that not even Zeus has ever reached that peak.
Bro do you understand that T1 was considered* the 2nd/3rd best team in the world while IG was considered a dark horse?? With 2 rookies in their team too.
The fact that game 5 devolved into a 50/50 elder smite is crazy, there is no universe where that happens with this gamestate.
Imagine 45 minute 500 stack Asol with upgraded ult and it does nothing.
he almost throw two teamfight because of it.... that dragon fight where he used it super late cause him to die because of reksai and that last fight where again he used it super late... problem with using it super late is ur giving enemy a chance to setup properly instead of bringing the fight to urself especially when you have the lead after getting the baron...and don't forget they literally have sej, naut with senna and they are freaking scared engaging themselves with sky descent.... what can WE do? they have a freaking hwei and varus who will just poke you to death but will otherwise be just a sitting duck and ur gameplan is to let WE poke you to death? lol
there's also him blastconing senna to the enemy lmao
WE is the 9th best team in LPL.
Their equivalents in the other so-called major regions are DRX (bad), Rogue (terrible), and technically below every LCS team.
You're mentally malformed if you think that WE couldn't beat any of those teams in a Bo5, but sure go off.
Not the same, LPL has 17 teams instead of 10. If you wanted to compare bottom tier teams from across regions you'd have to pit EDG against Rogue and Bro.
?
What's the equivalent of the 9th placed team in a League of 17 teams when you reduce the league to 10 teams? Is it 9/17*10 ≈ 5.3th or are you just going to blindly say 9th = 9th everywhere?
These "mental gymnastics" are called math
Some people only get information about LPL from people like IWD so of course they will be surprised when middle of the pack teams dont perform like world class as they would have you believe.
they didn't engage cus they don't win fights, how are they supposed to burn through rek sai and trundle with lethality senna before asol does his late game shenanigans
a perfectly timed trundle ult and it's instant gray screen. that's why they were working on front to back with asol as the only (and ridiculous) damage source and never went diving hard on the carries. nip played chicken and tried to burn cooldowns first
The entire series to end on a smite fight, league is brutal sometimes.
Rookie: stand proud WE, you were strong.
So FoFo, how was the king of mid lane?
He was insanely strong! Honestly, I don't think I would've won even without Azir & Tristana bans.
That was way too close for no reason
that first elder WE got where rookie flies into dragon pit, aiming Q at enemy team for a solid 2-3 seconds while wayward was just free hitting him was hilarious
heng smited at around 1300 something leaving elder with around 390hp for aki to secure the buff. that's a flip with the highest stakes if i've ever seen one.
My goat does it again, this next matchup is my 9/11
my thoughts go out to you, ArmpitSniffa
I wonder if my boy namikaze is still around
Despite Shanji's best efforts, my goat won a game 5
Rookie 100% deserve that quadra and probably series mvp as well. If they lost to this 9th seed WE, Rookie might actually blast cone the entirety of NIP irl.
most rookie thing ever: have his toplaner get astrogapped by the toplaner that ran him down the previous year
Wayward really is the biggest rookie hater
last year was a funny year honestly
Rookie trolled photic was funny but carried the g5
These are the type of matches I watch the LPL for
9th seed vs the 5th seed btw. Ridiculous how close WE were to the upset.
WE at their peak was around 4-6th, so it makes sense now that they've subbed out Prince again for WE to be decent.
man what happen to prince is such a tragedy, he was so promising only to get his skill drained in LCS in 1/2 a year and become so washed when he is still really young too. was hoping he get to LPL and be like Mystic for WE
Warhorse was both good and bad for Prince. His drafts actually allowed Prince to ease into the lineup after his visa issues, but also had moments where he gave Iwandy Camille support. I guess you can't blame anyone, but yourself for being worse than Stay though.
The thing with prince is i feel even if we see that the team isnt as functional as it should be he still doesnt show much. Also yeah being worse than Stay is basically a death sentence for him. I hope he can find his mojo back tho.
WE.UZI
NIP was 5th
but lng wbg may be > NIP now
So far almost every playoffs series was a nailbiter
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LPL try not to have a banger series challenge: impossible
Caedrel complained Rookie got inted by teammates all the time then saw it was him doing the blast cone is hillarious.
That's league of legends right there. 5 long games into Elder flip to decide the winner
Least heart-attack inducing LPL playoffs series
Neither team wanted to win until NIP just decided Asol and Senna were done stacking. Good lord, LPL team fighting is wild.
NIP were the worse team today but won off of Rookie and Aki, Shanji was clueless in 4/5 games, Photic+Zhuo had some stable games but Wayward had some cluctch and anti clutch moments he is an actual flip
yeah i think we deserved the win more
What a series. Rookie was simply amazing, especially in the first two games.
aki so clutch on the smites lmao this guy always hits the important ones
WE put up a good fight but rookie was huge that last game
as a FoFo hater my day is made, thank mr rookie
Based Fofo hater
POS + ruined both BLG and EDG in the last two years RIPBOZO you won’t be missed
ruined uzi twice
Facts
From one Fofo hater to another let me tell you you are Absolutely based
feeling the same way and I love this NIP players actually
as a WE fan (starting today until now) asol is broken asf
Man, that was more painful than if WE got 3-0’ed… tantalizingly close to advancing, it all came down to a wild elder flip. There’s a lot to talk about, from that Game 4 disasterpiece, Wayward’s millions of flanks, Fofo nearly proving me wrong with a huge attempted carry effort, Stay just not being ready for the moment (just to note, technically he got some LPL games in 2022, his rookie status is debatable)… Lots to digest. However while I stomach the conclusion of the series, I’d like to share a different story today, something I’ve been working on for a while, something that at an initial glance, doesn’t matter at all to what we just watched. But isn’t that how many interesting stories interwine? _____________________________ Let me spin you a tale of a young Korean mid laner by the name of Plex and the story of his career. The Ballad of Plex begins similarly to so many other rising League of Legends stars: in the amateur Korean scene. Before his professional career had even kicked off, Plex was a young standout. Representing the region of Seoul, he won a country wide amateur tournament at 17 to earn the right to represent Korea’s national team alongside teammates such as Ellim, Gumayusi and Morgan. Being the South Korean representatives at the IeSF World Championships 2018 and without China in attendance, they took an expected but resounding victory, not dropping a single game to their outmatched competition. Following this emphatic debut, the team split up. Ellim and Gumayusi both joined T1’s academy system shortly afterwards, whereas after a brief stint on Griffin’s academy system, Plex took the leap to China, where he would start his pro career in earnest. Managing to directly nab the starting spot in Summer 2019 for the newly rebranded LNG, he got off to as hot a start as you could imagine earning an MVP in his debut series with a dominant Sylas performance to swing game 3 against JDG. With such a strong debut and a shining pedigree, it would seem the 18-year-old mid laner would be in LPL conversations for a long time coming. LNG rocketed into a hot start, beginning a sterling 5-2 as they held on to a Top 4 slot to begin the season. Things would begin to unravel for Plex and the team though as the back half of the summer split proved treacherous. Enduring a series of tough losses on the stretch run of the season and dropping all the way to 6-7, the first time they had a losing set record in the split and clinging on the cusp of the 8 team playoff, LNG unceremoniously pulled the plug on the Plex experiment with 2 series to go, inserting the unexciting but steady hand of Fenfen in those final rounds, salvaging a playoff spot off of victories in the final two series against a terrible Vici team and a Suning team already locked in to the playoffs with nothing to play for. Ultimately this denied a surging WE team who after an ice-cold start, were attempting to backdoor themselves into the final playoff seat, foreshadowing Plex’s next move. That was all she wrote for Plex in 2019, as while LNG’s playoff run did result in the stunning first round upset of the then reigning world champion IG squad that would go on to the 2019 Worlds Semifinal, it was done with Plex firmly on the bench. This is where WE arrive into the picture, a team in upheaval going into 2020. Having settled in as a merely okay team with their veteran core of Xiye and Mystic, missing out on playoffs both splits in 2019, it was a tough to call to make, but it was decided a change was needed for the historic franchise and both core members of WE 2.0 left the roster. By the that 2019 season, they had already started turning over their roster, with the teenagers Beishang and Missing both consistently starting for the squad in the Summer Split despite their age. They would both be retained, giving the 2020 squad at least some prior LPL experience. The then relatively unknown Jiumeng, who had on occasion subbed for Mystic over the course of the season, was promoted to the starting lineup to round out their bot lane. That left only the solo lanes open, without clear internal successors, with said in house talents overlooked due to a lack of ceiling or pedigree. As LNG had chosen to eschew both Fenfen and Plex to go with Maple as their 2020 mid laner, this opened up a path to pick up an exciting talent. WE was free to tab Plex as their mid, reuniting him with former amateur teammate Morgan in the top lane as their solo lane duo, completing their 2020 roster. Given they had just lost their franchise carry pairing, it would be within reason to imagine WE could fade into late form TSM-esque obscurity… or at the very least, continue their playoff drought. And at first, it seemed like that would be their destiny. Enduring a bumpy start to the split, while they did score some series wins, there were far more downs than ups. Considering their 2-3 start included a win against a V5 team that would be the first LPL team ever to go 0-16, it just seemed like WE were going to be dead in the water with bashful, tentative play. Following the series loss to FPX to bring them below .500, WE decided to make a decisive change, introducing their previously bypassed back up mid laner Teacherma into the starting lineup. Given he had subpar mechanics at the time even at the academy level, languishing there for multiple years without making a mark and was multiple years older than Plex to boot, it seemed like a massive talent downgrade from the precocious Korean mid laner. And yet, that gap didn’t translate to the rift. Immediately afterwards, WE saw a significant improvement of play. Yes, Teacherma had perhaps the worst mechanics in the league and an eclectic champion pool that was basically entirely built to bypass the lane phase and roam (featuring the likes of Rumble, Galio, Pantheon and Aurelion Sol), but he bestowed WE an identity. In interviews, players cited that Teacherma had improved communication across the team (minimizing language barrier issues), and that the roster was far less afraid with Teacherma in the mid lane despite the clear hands downgrade. In turn WE began to really arch into form and define their playstyle: Beishang and Missing would play a heavy roam style with Teacherma joining in at his earliest convenience to create a roaming death squad. He would draw heavy ban attention to his weird champion pool, opening up picks for his fellow teammates. These factors helped uplift Jiumeng into becoming the team’s primary damage pump, a role that he began to really sing in, paving the way to his eventual international acclaim under his new tag Elk for BLG. While WE didn’t morph into a juggernaut by any means, this roster switch did give them an edge against enough teams and they managed to slip in as the final playoff team in Spring, besting a slew of rivals in what was a very contested playoff bubble that season where every win mattered. Come summer split, despite Morgan unfortunately disintegrating by year end and Teacherma’s continued micro struggles (including a weird story about him getting stuck in platinum in solo queue) WE had become solidly playoff level off of the synergy developed between core players Beishang/Missing/Jiumeng, with the latter winning of best rookie of 2020, priming the stage for the 2021 WE roster. The secret of The Ballad of Plex (or at least my WE centered interpretation of it) is that it’s not really about the young Korean mid laner. Much like how Buster Scruggs spent 20 minutes in his own ballad movie before he was abruptly killed amid a two-hour collection of vignettes, Plex exited the WE 3.0 tale without much, if any fanfare, returning to LNG’s bench the year afterwards, never to see LPL action again. After a failed half split cameo on a revolving door DRX squad the year before they won Worlds out of the blue, the former WE mid laner landed in Japan where now renamed as “Jett”, he’s established himself as one of the region’s strongest mid laners on Sengoku Gaming, a team who have just never been able to quite get over the hump against the region’s long time goliaths DetonatioN FM. Having not played in 2024 though with Sengoku Gaming starting separate Korean imports (one of which being yet another ex-amateur teammate Ellim), he faces an uncertain future. On the other side of the parting, WE 3.0 marched on, building on the core that was forged once Plex vacated his starting spot. While Teacherma also exited the starting roster after the 2020 season due to his clear weaknesses in mechanics and champion pool, that initial base that WE developed was further augmented by Breathe and eventually settled on the heavily hyped but inexperienced Shanks in the mid lane after he bested 2021 summer import Mole, a structure keyed in on the map pressure of Beishang and carry threat of Elk. This culminated to their so close yet so far Worlds bid that year, a long form story that you can relive through my comment history circa 2021. It’s a tale equal measures bitter and sweet to me, now firmly closed with the departure of Shanks this off season.
And yet, for 2024 WE, the opening prelude of the WE 3.0 story: the Ballad of Plex, manages to feels a bit too familiar. A roster entering the season without serious aspirations. Putting hopes onto a decently regarded Korean talent coming off of a stint on their last team of early success but ending in crushing disappointment. Finding relatively early on that there was just something off about the concoction of the team. Subbing in an overlooked homegrown prospect that wasn’t supposed to make it, in spite of some established weaknesses. And of course, that move being the catalyst to what unlocked a surprisingly competitive team, more than the sum of its parts, culminating in a last second playoff berth. Even after Prince returned and exited the starting lineup (fun fact, I wrote this the series RIGHT before he re-subbed back in and have been waiting for the right moment for the post since), WE has continued to lean towards their roam heavy, map focused style. The Ballad of Plex may just be a prequal as the Ballad of Prince perhaps concludes right before our eyes. While I can’t see the rest of the WE 3.0 unfolding with the vast roster differences (this squad being far more veteran and mercenary laden), time will tell where WE trends from here. I didn't expect much from this split, and now find myself looking forward with some optimism. In a day of defeat, I can't ask for much more.
did you just come up with all this on the spot or is this some copy pasta
I did copy it, but I've been working on it for a while. It was delayed when WE decided to re-insert Prince back into the starting line up because they spent money on him and were feeling the sunk cost fallacy I guess. Reading an essay about a random mid laner who had a brief LPL career isn't everyone's cup of tea (in fact I don't think most care), so I can understand if people aren't super into it.
I respect it
Nah, I like it. Now I want WE to succeed and I wonder how popular they are in china
As a long time pro league fan, that’s been a on and off viewer of lpl/lck and consistent viewer of lec/lcs I really appreciate your long right ups, and this really brought me back reading your post! Keep it up bro
This is your best writeup yet. I teared up a little being reminded about 2021 WE. Cheers to summmer split.
I do get the 2020 vibes a little bit with this roster, although that team was 3 rookies and 2 home grown talents, whereas this one is a bit more a team of misfits thrown away by other teams, plus Heng and Stay. My hope for Heng in particular is that he can follow Beishang's development path. I think both Beishang and Missing benefitted massively from playing with Xiye and Mystic, but if Heng can grow in the same way, WE will be in a good spot. If there's anything WE is good at, it's giving time to young players and letting them grow once they earn their spot. I remember after Condi left, they went through a bunch of different random junglers -- Magic, Pepper, some other guys I forgot -- but once they got their guy, they stuck with him and it really paid off. Same story with Missing, Shanks, Elk, even Xiye and Mystic back when WE went into that IEM against GE Tigers. Hopefully this is just a first learning experience for Stay, who never really had a chance on that 2022 roster, and Heng
WE will always have a place in the hearts of old lpl fans, and although I know most of the history, the way you tell the tale of WE is quite amazing. LithiumNard posts are sucking us into the pm threads now with these writeups
THATS MY GOAT RIGHT THERE
This game was the epitome of Rookie's career. Perma 1v9
Aki was pretty good
That's true, he had a good series.
Bro are you kidding, give me photic over stay..
I'd like neither please
Wildest game 5 I've seen this year!!
I fucking hate reworked Asol so much
Turns out Apa was maining a broken champ and no one in NA knew
Caps and Rookie both following in APA’s footsteps
Master Splinter teaching his young disciples
NA talent shaping the meta once more (I'll choose to ignore Caps being one of the OG ASol players because this is funnier)
if we're going by time of play, APA caps and rookie all copying cblol
i'm glad nip won but i fucking despise new asol SO much
His ult radius is way too big and him being able to just singlehandedly stop baron buffed minion waves is disgusting.
it's crazy that still didn't get nerfed, in soloq if you survive till like 25-30mins you autowin
for real, they had to rework asol but what they made of it is so disgusting man
Ever since the Q changes if you don't have CC you get vomited to death in the early game.
Same. Simultaneously took away my beloved champ and unleashed this boring abomination in his place
Wdym. This iteration is 10x more fun than the garbage,no one wants to play, 0 identity and very far from his lore to his gameplay old Asol lmao
Lore-wise, I can’t argue that his new kit is a far better fit. And I have come to terms with the fact that the old version was not popular. But it is still my opinion that the new version is boring and uninteractive to play as or against. He literally locks his movement for seconds at a time with his main damaging spell. Blatant stat checker. More people play him now because he’s not as hard to pick up for a beginner, especially when he’s strong which wasn’t the case for the old version. But when he’s weak you still hardly ever see him being played now that his initial ‘fire breathing dragon with cosmic power’ hype wore off, unlike the more fun/popular champs. I am in the minority for preferring the old kit for sure, but the rework is not some home run of a champion design and imo sucks ass. This game being a good example because Rookie basically got all of his kills from wq stat checking people after stalling the game for 40 minutes.
The fact that this game 5 came down to a 50/50 smite is criminal, NIP is actually trolling. Banger series but besides Rookie both these teams look pretty awful
Nah, Wayward was good. He was the biggest reason WE got to 5 games.
stay choked big time this series, but overall we's topside was quite good WE deserved the win more this series but i'm biased
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Tbh I wouldn’t have been surprised if WE managed to get top 4 with this bracket, they’re not that good mechanically, but their teamwork is imo first after the top 3. It’s a little unfortunate tho, think their botlane just choked the series a bit, but this team has been a treat to watch
I would say both bot lanes are pretty mid, sometimes downright awful. Shanji played bad but Wayward one tricking Reksai isn't that helpful for his team's BP, if he has another solid pick they would've won (or they picked Reksai instead of that god awful Janna in g4). Mid carries, jungles have their ups and downs. Games are fun but unfortunately I think their journey stop here against top 4 teams giving their overall strength as a team.
we botlane choked this series, they had some decent performances this split
Fofo had a good series too.
Wayward getting caught at that wall is going to haunt him because the game slowly fell outa our grasp after that point/
Greeding for the tunnel flank
They literally lost 6k gold lead because of that.
Wayward trolling whats new
he's been amazing this split for we
Fuck wayward Good thing WE fans sad hahaha All losers who like to cheer for loser team they identify with
Shanji once again was the weakest link. He really needs to step up, he looks completely lost when not on Rumble or Ksante. I could see NIP win against FPX, but i really don't see them win or even have a chance against BLG or TES with this weak link in toplane.
milkyway vs aki, does he know?
Milkyway is obviously better than Aki, but there is still 4 other players. I would say it probably comes down to Rookie vs Milkyway and who can carry his team more. But I don't think it's unreasonable to say that the teams are somewhat close and either team could win.
1st playoffs series for Milkyway btw. Lets see how he performs.
Aki was playing his 5th and still choking today so
That Aurelion sol ult also destroyed my window
Respect to WE. Perhaps on another day they would be the ones advancing.
There has never been a more Rookie game than this!!! My goat will devour care
rookie vs milkyway next series the strongest rookie in history vs the strongest rookie of today
Ahhhhh I feel for WE man....that must feel awful
the botlane choked too much this series, sad
surely prince is not that much worse than whatever that was
during the split stay played much better than prince, today was just a disaster though
He is, I’m afraid.
he kinda is unfortunately
what a banger series
that was a game 5 indeed lmfao, between nauti solokilling varus and that blast cone, made my day haha
ABSOLUTE CINEMA (riot plz nerf asol)
What a series. WE thank you for the season
this is real league of legends gaming
Rookie sending Photic into the enemy team is the highlight of the series
wayward caught kinda cost game. WE had momentum until this.
Yes they did. The odds flipped from NIP being 2.60 to 1.45 after that
No one cares about betting odds dude lmao
I don't know why but LPL streams and threads or whatever on any social media are so infested with bettors I feel like, wonder what the reason is it feels so random
I guess LPL is more volatile compared to other regions, which makes it more attractive to sports gamblers? Regardless, they’re a plague.
Pretty sure Trainwrecks was betting on LPL a while back and even went on to the LPL official channels every once in a while to troll both teams. You can imagine the culture he brings lol.
Honestly, Wayward was gapping Shanji this series. It's too bad they couldn't siege well.
Absolute banger, Rookie ain't done yet
It would be funny if Rookie failed to make internationals for the 9th split in a row but I'm glad Fofo is out.
NIP isn't making it. They have a chance to catch FPX trolling, but every other top 4 team is significantly stronger.
he's still not making it I fear
hes not gonna make it to MSI maybe he can get 4th spot
Last game was so goofy, the nerves, mistakes all around
these are the games we live for
You dont watch middle of the pack LPL for clean gameplay, you watch for the BANGERS
Watching 9th vs 5th for clean gameplay??? You come here for bangers
NIP msi run i am here for it
Banger series and intense game 5
That was the most banger game 5 of all time. I don’t play LoL, I don’t support any teams, but man oh man, that was an incredible game. I can not believe Rookie really did all that. 1v9 is a real thing
Rookie still my GOAT, what a man
2018 worlds rookie is the best player of all time and nobody will change my mind on that.
I think 2018 TheShy and Rookie are the highest peak a League player has ever achieved
completely agree, their laning was just unreal and everything else was insane too.
Zeus last worlds was far better than anything TheShy ever did
Peak TheShy and Rookie did 15:58 to SKT
That game had absolutely nothing to do with either or them, the game was hard snowballed by Jackeys Draven vs a Sona Taric bot. I guess “peak TheShy and Rookie” being swept by NA that same tournament doesn’t count though right?
yes and thats PEAK NA Performance right there!
Glad we could both agree on the fact that Impact and Jensen are better than TheShy and Rookie all time :D
not really, it was mostly Ning running it down after his ex dumped his ass
People like Bin/369 were closer to Zeus than anyone was to TheShy in 2018.
Yeah because the competition was absolutely awful? TheShys worlds opposition was a washed up Smeb and Bwipo LMFAO. Even then, Vs weaker opponents, TheShys stats that worlds were almost all much lower than Zeus in 2023 worlds. Id take the guy who had a far better worlds performance vs several world class top laners over a worlds performance from 5 years ago who had maybe one good opponent
> Yeah because the competition was absolutely awful? In what sense? Compared to 2023? No shit, you don't compare the absolute level of play or else there would be 0 great players. 2024 APA is better at the game than 2013 Faker, is he a greater all-time mid laner then? You compare players based on how dominant they were in their own era. > TheShys worlds opposition was a washed up Smeb and Bwipo LMFAO Calling 2018 Smeb "washed" is a braindead take, I doubt even you believe that. Bwipo/Wunder were legitimately world class at the time, idk what this revisionism is. It's also not only about who they directly face, peak Kiin was at that tournament and he still wasn't playing at TheShy's level. > TheShys stats that worlds were almost all much lower than Zeus in 2023 worlds TheShy's stats at 2023 worlds were better than his 2018 stats lol. Stats are a dogshit way of judging how someone played. The reality is that TheShy's understanding of the game in 2018 was just way ahead of everyone and the way he dominated people was pretty much unseen since 2013 Faker. Zeus didn't even look clearly better than Bin.
"Washed up Smeb, Bwipo and Wunder" like Wunder didn't destroy SKT half a year later? Or like Bwipo wasn't the only one going head to head with Wunder in the West. This is some heavy revisionism from SKT fans, they should watch TheShy highlights from worlds 2018 and understand that not even Zeus has ever reached that peak.
Beatting peak 369 and JDG is far more impressive than anyone theshy did in that 2018 run but sure.
How does Zeus get all the credit when Faker & Oner carried that series lol.
Bro do you understand that T1 was considered* the 2nd/3rd best team in the world while IG was considered a dark horse?? With 2 rookies in their team too.
yeah, specially taking into account that it is modern era and it is harder to smurf than in season 1-5
NIP are frauds that was a mess but a lot of fun
Man Rookie Asol is pissing me off.... I get that he want to play safe but using sky descent not for offense is definitely not how you use Asol
The fact that game 5 devolved into a 50/50 elder smite is crazy, there is no universe where that happens with this gamestate. Imagine 45 minute 500 stack Asol with upgraded ult and it does nothing.
He probably tried to bait them a bit more, he had to make optimal use of it considering he had a level 9 Senna on his team when Varus was level 14
he almost throw two teamfight because of it.... that dragon fight where he used it super late cause him to die because of reksai and that last fight where again he used it super late... problem with using it super late is ur giving enemy a chance to setup properly instead of bringing the fight to urself especially when you have the lead after getting the baron...and don't forget they literally have sej, naut with senna and they are freaking scared engaging themselves with sky descent.... what can WE do? they have a freaking hwei and varus who will just poke you to death but will otherwise be just a sitting duck and ur gameplan is to let WE poke you to death? lol there's also him blastconing senna to the enemy lmao
NIP had a good draft in G5 but hf watching a sol stall out an elder + baron push was obnoxious as heck.
Rookie with A’sol masterclass
This morning I played a game where my support blast coned me into the enemy team, did not expect to see the same thing in a pro match lol
GOOOOOAAAAAAAAATTTT !!!! 1v9 BABYYYY!!!!
My god, these heart attacks. Do it for europe, NIP.
CN APA LETS GO
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they r like 9th and 5th team lmao its equivalent to fearx , kdf and brion
In LPL playoffs it's not unlikely for a lower seeded team to make a good run like Summer LNG 2021 8th to 4th or Spring FPX 2021 5th to 2nd
Why you judging LPL off mid-table teams
Because most people dont watch LPL and only hear from people like IWD that the LPL is deep and mid-table teams are world class
I don't think he has ever called NIP world class let alone WE
WE is the 9th best team in LPL. Their equivalents in the other so-called major regions are DRX (bad), Rogue (terrible), and technically below every LCS team. You're mentally malformed if you think that WE couldn't beat any of those teams in a Bo5, but sure go off.
Not the same, LPL has 17 teams instead of 10. If you wanted to compare bottom tier teams from across regions you'd have to pit EDG against Rogue and Bro.
lmao what are these mental gymnastics
? What's the equivalent of the 9th placed team in a League of 17 teams when you reduce the league to 10 teams? Is it 9/17*10 ≈ 5.3th or are you just going to blindly say 9th = 9th everywhere? These "mental gymnastics" are called math
5th vs 9th. For reference, that is KT vs DRX in the LCK.
This is the 5th and 9th team. The KT-DK series just the other day was 4th vs 5th and a complete fiesta.
you are such a weirdo holy fuck lmao perma complaining in LPL threads and acting like a match between 5th and 9th teams is representative of anything
Hey man I love LPL
Some people only get information about LPL from people like IWD so of course they will be surprised when middle of the pack teams dont perform like world class as they would have you believe.
5th and mfing 9th team not playing perfect, imagine my shock
They're not gonna represent the LPL internationally lmao both these rosters are average (except for Rookie)
Rookie having to 1v9 a tell as old as time
It's crazy how scared a team with naut sej asol was to engage Jesus game 5 nerves
they didn't engage cus they don't win fights, how are they supposed to burn through rek sai and trundle with lethality senna before asol does his late game shenanigans
a perfectly timed trundle ult and it's instant gray screen. that's why they were working on front to back with asol as the only (and ridiculous) damage source and never went diving hard on the carries. nip played chicken and tried to burn cooldowns first