2020 was a rough year for everyone. The COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on the world, and as a result a lot of us were confined to our homes for the biggest part of the year. Fortunately, there was solace to be found too: in terms of esports, we were still treated to some amazing moments in 2020. In this article, we will dive into some of the greatest moments that competitive League of Legends brought us.
1. The temporary dethroning of G2 Esports in Summer 2020
G2 Esports have been the best team in Europe for a long time now, and Fnatic have been on their heels for the same amount of time. While Fnatic’s performance in international tournaments have remained consistent, their LEC performance has consistently lagged behind G2. That made it all the more exciting when Fnatic was finally able to take out G2 in a grueling Best of 5 in the semifinals of the Summer Split Playoffs.
For a while, it seemed like the old kings had been dethroned by the rookies of Mad Lions and the surging Rogue. However, we learned yet again that there are some traditions that just can’t be broken: the LEC finals will be Fnatic and G2, and G2 will win.
2. The fall of Liquid
G2 wasn’t the only team that had an iron grip on its region: the LCS had been dominated by Team Liquid for years. Both 2018 and 2019 had been won rather unceremoniously by Liquid, the back-to-back-to-back-to-back champions of North America. With this one we’re cheating a little, because there isn’t one specific moment where we collectively realized in Spring that the champions of the LCS were no more, it was a million little losses. The team looking clueless, their roster swaps were not really working out and Yiliang ‘Doublelift’ Peng seemingly plagued by motivational issues – they all pointed to the fall of grace of the most dominant team the LCS has seen.
3. The Suning Miracle Run
The LPL, coming into Worlds 2020, was considered the strongest region in the world by a mile. They had 4 title contenders with JDG and TES being the frontrunners and LGD and Suning still considered a force to be reckoned with. Not only would Top Esports not make it to the finals of Worlds but their place would be taken by Suning. Having barely any hype behind them until they stomped their way through quarters, Suning was characterized by an incredibly iconic style (Tank Rengar was a great example) and while they ultimately fell short, their run will not be forgotten soon.
4. DAMWON: The greatest team in the World
In hindsight it wasn’t a surprise at all, but even this diehard LCK fan was scared when they had to face off against Korea Killers G2 Esports in the semifinals of Worlds. Yet Damwon Gaming absolutely demolished in 2020 and their final game against Suning really showcases how strong the team was. The most impressive aspect of DAMWON was their flexibility. Showcasing a number of different styles and playing through every player over the course of the tournament, not a single team looked to be as unilaterally dominant as Damwon was during the second half of 2020 specifically. Never was the stadium in Shanghai as silent as when DAMWON was done with Suning.
5. The end of an era
The most defining moment of 2020 in the League history books is the retirement of multiple incredibly high profile players. Jian ‘Uzi’ Zi-Hao, Yiliang ‘Doublelift’ Peng, Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg, Song ‘Smeb’ Kyung-ho amongst many others have retired from competitive play. All of them were international mainstays and were considered an iconic part of their region. Bjergsen has been in NA so long that half of the fans might have forgotten that he is actually Danish. Doublelift’s trophy case used to be a meme, but when he retired he had become the most successful domestic ADC within North America.
Uzi is one of the greatest players ever to never win a world championship – and Smeb was part of the greatest team that never won one, the KOO/ROX Tigers. 2020 really felt like the year where new players who came up in the last few years grew into greatness – players like Heo ‘Showmaker’ Su, Lê ‘SofM’ Quang Duy and Zhuo ‘Knight’ Ding were at the forefront of everyone’s mind, while the old guard completely folded – TSM going 0-6 in groups might have been a big component of why both Bjergsen and Doublelift decided to retire this offseason.
2020 Has been a weird year – and a big one for League of Legends history. What was your favourite moment? Join the discussion on social media or our Discord!
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