2019 was an amazing year for League of Legends, bringing Europe their first MSI trophy, China another Worlds, and NA a bunch more memes. There were some great plays, fancy upsets, and a large expansion of the meta, opening up more playstyles and viable champions. But as always, 2019 also marked the end of many legendary careers.
This year, we say goodbye to Mata, imp, Vizicsacsi, Clearlove, Score, and Wolf. Some of the best players to ever play the game and worthy candidates for an eventual League of Legends Hall of Fame. On the last day of the decade, Riot put together a short video remembering them, and sending them off in style.
Cho "Mata" Se-hyeong and Lee "Wolf" Jae-wan were both legendary supports (and members of SKT). Mata won Worlds in 2014 on the legendary team, Samsung White, and then bounced around team after team in both the LPL and LCK, never to make it to another Finals. Wolf won with SKT in 2015 and 2016, and placed second in 2017. He moved to Turkey for his final year, playing for the famous TCL team, SuperMassive.
Gu "imp" Seung-bin was a bot laner and part of the SSW crew that won Worlds in 2014 alongside Mata. Afterwards, he took off to the LPL, where he played for the next five years on three different teams. He spent most of his time with LGD where he got second and then first in the LPL playoffs, but despite remaining consistently strong, never really found the same success after 2015 until this year, where he came in second dometically one last time before retirement.
Ming "Clearlove" Kai and Go "Score" Dong-bin, were both Junglers, and both found a team and stuck with them for the entirety of their careers. Score played with KT Rolster since 2012, but despite so many years of LCK dominance (making it to the finals almost every split), Score was never able to make it past the Quarters at Worlds. Clearlove, was the same, dominating with EDG domestically, but failing to ever advance past Worlds Quarters. Clearlove has now become a coach, and will continue on with EDG.
Tamás "Vizicsacsi" Kiss played top, and is the sole European legend to retire this year. He started his career with the fan favorite, Unicorns of Love, but was never able to take a domestic title or attend Worlds, falling just short split after split. Eventually, he landed on Splyce, qualifying for Worlds for his first time, and advancing to the Quarters in his first ever Worlds appearance. Known for his Poppy plays and big smile, Csacsi hangs the hat this off-season.
So as always, we say goodbye to more pros this off-season, but their legends live on in the plays they made and stories they told. Let us know your most memorable moments of the year (and decade) on our Twitter below.
- Parkes Ousley
- Email : parkes@invenglobal.com
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