The League of Legends competition at the Asian Games wrapped up earlier today, with Korea’s national team taking home the top prize.
But before Korea toppled over Chinese Taipei in the final match to win the gold medal, they had to get through China’s team in the semifinals. And although Team Korea emerged from that best-of-three series with a 2-0 victory, it might’ve been another team altogether that came out of the contest on top: JD Gaming.
Three-fifths of the LPL-winning JD Gaming roster were present in the China/Korea match at the Asian Games, and all three of them proved why they’re on arguably the best roster in the world. JD Gaming’s stamp on the Korea/China match was evident, with mid laner Knight representing his native country of China, and the team’s two Korean imports—jungler Kanavi and AD carry Ruler—playing for their home country.
In typical Ruler fashion, the arguable GOAT ADC had another striking performance in the match, as he posted a scoreline of 12/1/15 across the two-game sweep. The LPL All-Pro has been making light work of his new region this season; his 7.3 KDA is the highest among all players in his league, and only second in the world behind Cloud9’s Berserker (7.9), according to LoL stats site Games of Legends.
At Worlds, though, Ruler won’t be representing Korea. When he puts the JDG jersey back on next month, it’ll be with the hopes of China riding on his shoulders. Although the historically dominant ADC has been to Worlds seven times before this season, they’ve all been with the Korean Samsung/Gen.G organization. This year, he’s an import, just like his JDG (and Team Korea) teammate Kanavi. The veteran jungler, however, has been to Worlds on two prior occasions (all with JDG), and despite being a Korean resident, Kanavi has never played a game in the LCK.
Only two native Koreans—LNG Esports’ Scout and Top Esports’ Rookie—have earned status as resident LPL players, according to the LoL global contract database.
With so much of the organization’s presence spread out across the two historically strongest regions, it’s hard not to feel like JD Gaming is the heavy favorite coming into Worlds. The team has been a near-unbeatable force during China’s regular season. They posted a stunning 87-25 record in individual games this year, and of course, have already won three titles in 2023, with two on the domestic stage over in the LPL and one coming back at MSI. They come into Worlds with the chance to be the first team to ever complete the League “grand slam.” Just one other team (2019 G2 Esports) has ever been in their three-for-three, going-for-four position before.
JD Gaming have already established themselves as the team to beat coming into Worlds, and the fact that they made their mark on both of the strongest national teams at this year’s Asian Games was a serious flex.
Worlds 2023 starts on Oct. 9 with the beginning of the play-in stage, and JD Gaming will hit the Rift on Oct. 19 with the start of the Swiss stage.
