The 2021 LoL World Championship begins with two former members of Griffin, Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon and Lee “Tarzan” Seung-yong, facing off in the first match of the tournament. LCK’s #4 seed, Hanwha Life Esports, is slated to face off against LPL’s #4, LNG Esports, in the first match of the Play-in stages.

Chovy and Tarzan first became teammates in 2018, when Griffin was still part of Challengers Korea. Alongside Choi “Sword” Sung-won, Park “Viper” Do-hyeon (who’s also in attendance at this year’s Worlds with EDward Gaming), and Son “Lehends” Si-woo, Griffin successfully gathered the five pieces of Exodia.

After Chovy joined the team, Griffin were incredibly successful. They were promoted into the LCK and made it to the LCK finals three splits in a row, quickly making them one of the greats. At the time, Griffin were known for their laning, near-perfect teamfighting, and unpredictable drafts.

However, the team’s success did not last. In November 2019, Griffin were a part of a string of controversies, which started from firing their head coach at the time, Kim “cvMax” Dae-ho. Since then, starting players like Chovy left the team and Griffin's downfall began. Eventually, they got demoted from the LCK in 2020 Summer, and officially broke up in January of this year.

Since then, Chovy and Tarzan have walked very different paths. Chovy found success from his time in DRX and HLE, solidifying his spot as one of the best mid laners in the league. On the other hand, Tarzan was part of Griffin until their departure from the LCK, and took a break from competitive League of Legends for half a year.

Both players had their fair share of trouble to get to Worlds this year. Both HLE and LNG are aiming to get first in their play-in group, so this match is very important for them. Only one team can directly qualify for the Group Stage — for the other, it's the Knockout phase of Play-ins.

HLE and LNG will kick off Worlds on Oct. 5, 8 p.m. KST, in the very first match of the tournament.