The long-awaited anthem for the 2023 League of Legends World Championship has finally arrived. The song, titled “GODS” and performed by global K-pop sensation NewJeans, was written alongside an awe-inspiring music video depicting the epic rise of Dplus KIA’s superstar AD carry Deft, complete with multiple references and easter eggs to important moments throughout his competitive career.
Deft won the Summoner’s Cup in 2022 after playing for almost a decade, finally capturing the one achievement that had eluded him. The 26-year-old veteran is one of the most experienced players in the league and has competed at a high level for so long.
He’s widely considered one of the greatest players of all time, and his championship-winning run with DRX is considered to be one of the greatest moments in League Esports history. The music video for “GODS” is a beautiful homage to one of the best, with every chapter exemplified in Riot Games’ epic style.
Here are all of the references and easter eggs in the Worlds 2023 anthem music video.
All references in League Worlds 2023 music video “GODS”
Humble beginnings
The video starts with a reference to Deft’s humble beginnings at Mapo High School, the same high school League Esports icon Faker attended. Faker can be seen in the foreground during a scene in a classroom with Deft in the background. There is also a small sign written in Korean in the top left of the frame that says, “The most important thing is the unbreakable spirit,” which is a quote said by Deft during his 2022 run to the trophy.
Deft watches Faker’s Worlds-winning 2013 run
In the next scene, Deft is seen battling a blue buff but is quickly attacked by Baron Nashor. Shortly after, Faker arrives as Zed and successfully conquers the beast, representing the GOAT’s first World Championship win while Deft watches from home.
As Faker looks back at Deft, the marksman silently vows to improve himself and jumps right into another game. There are also a few background easter eggs in the scene with Deft at his computer, including an alpaca plushie on the bed, a Teemo hat, a Worlds 2013 poster, and various League posters on the wall.
Deft’s first Worlds appearance in 2014
Deft finally makes it to Worlds with Samsung Blue but is eventually stopped by the org’s sister team, Samsung White. Former SSB top laner PawN can be seen on his classic Jayce pick, and the exact moment when PawN takes down Deft can be seen during the second game of their quarterfinal series when the marksman played Lucian.
Worlds 2015 vs. Fnatic
Deft heads to Worlds once again, but this time, he’s made the trip over to China to join Edward Gaming. He is joined by support Tian “Meiko” Ye as they stand in the middle of a forest. Superstar AD carry Rekkles appears in the trees as Kennen and eliminates them, the same way Fnatic took out EDG with a resounding sweep.
Deft and Keria’s brotherhood
After failing to reach new heights from 2016 to 2019, we find Deft back at Worlds once again in 2020. This scene represents his eternal struggle against one of the strongest powerhouse teams in the world at the time—DAMWON Gaming. ShowMaker can be seen on Syndra, launching a barrage of projectiles at Deft, only for support Keria to take the damage for him on Braum.
This emotional scene represents the final time Deft and Keria were on the same team, with the former ending up on Hanwha Life and the latter joining T1.
The 2022 Cinderella run
After so many failures, Deft is left emotional and distraught by his lonesome, until he is finally lifted back up by the 2022 DRX roster. Zeka, Pyosik, BeryL, and Kingen can all be seen picking Deft up and bringing him to his feet, ready to make history. The lyrics, “Anyone read this underdog story?” are also playing in the background, and are a perfect segway into the Cinderella run this team had from play-ins to champions.
During this set of scenes, DRX runs into and through his former teammate, Meiko, on Renata Glasc, before facing off and defeating Gen.G’s Choi “Doran” Hyeon-joon as Renekton. Deft can be seen on a couple of picks that helped win those series, including Draven and Varus. Finally, Deft reaches the top of the mountain, and in a cinematic circling of fate, meets his former support Keria and his old schoolmate, Faker.
Eventually, Faker and Keria are able to take down Deft for a moment, before the rest of the ADC’s teammates arrive in a Bard portal.
He and his teammates are all playing champions who were key picks during that series, including Azir, Hecarim, Caitlyn, Bard, and Aatrox. This also represents how strong they were as a five-man unit, becoming much more than the sum of their parts.
In the end, Deft and the rest of DRX are left to lift the trophy after beating T1. The video concludes with multiple shots of different pro players looking up at the Summoner’s Cup, including:
- FURIA’s Andrey “Ayu” Saraiva
- G2 Esports’ Steven “Hans Sama” Liv
- Cloud9’s Robert “Blaber” Huang
- Estral Esports’ Brandon “Josedeodo” Villegas
- JD Gaming’s Bai “369” Jia-Hao
- Gen.G’s Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon
- GAM Esports’ Đỗ “Levi” Duy Khánh
- DetonatioN FocusMe’s Yuta “Yutapon” Sugiura
- PSG Talon’s Huang “Azhi” Shang-Jhih
Worlds 2023 will begin on Tuesday, Oct. 10, with the Worlds Qualifying Series between North America and Europe taking place a day before on Monday, Oct. 9.
